Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - 10X Your Income When You Become A Specialist

Episode Date: June 27, 2018

The interesting truth behind what happens when you shift from being a generalist to a specialist. On this episode Russell talks about how he struggled to grow his business until he was able to specialize on a particular piece of it. He also gives examples of other people he knows who have been able to do the same thing. Here are some of the other awesome things to look forward to in this episode: Find out why being a "jack of all trades" isn't good for growing your business. Why being the funnel guy has helped Russell become even more successful. Find out how you can become a specialist in a tiny piece of your market and why that will 10x your business. So listen here to see why it's good to be a specialist. Transcript - https://marketingsecrets.com/blog/10x-your-income-when-you-become-a-specialist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. So excited to have you guys here tonight. I've got something really fun I want to share with you. So, the big question is this. How are entrepreneurs like us, who didn't cheat and take on venture capital, who are spending money from our own pockets, how do we market in a way that lets us get our products and our services and the things that we believe in out to the world, and yet still remain profitable? That is the question, and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Russell Brunson, and welcome to Marketing Secrets. All right, so I'm not sure the best way to kind of pre-set this up, but I want to share this with you because I think this is why a lot of people struggle.

In fact, uh, looking backwards now, it's always easier to look hindsight, right? But looking backwards, um, I think this is one reason why I struggled for, um, for so long, probably almost, almost a decade. Um, and the reason why is because, um, I was trying, I was trying to do the right things, right? Like I was trying to figure out how to provide value for my, for my customers. And, um, and so I was learning all sorts of things, right? And so as I was learning everything, I was like trying to teach these things, trying to share things, uh, which is good.

I think a lot of times, um, people like us who are creators and who like to give and serve like this, just kind of our, our nature to do that. Right. Um, and, uh, so I don't think it was bad necessarily, but what happens, I started becoming like, um, a Jack of all trades and a master of none. Right. Um, I remember that, uh, when I first started getting into the internet marketing business and teaching stuff, um, and I looked around the marketplace at the time, and there were people that were specifically good at one thing. Jeff Walker was good at product launches,

and Frank Kerr was good at mass control. They had all these different people. I can't remember all the names right now. Perry Marshall was PPC, and Brad Fallon was SEO. Everyone was good at one thing. For me, I started learning all these things. John Carlton was copywriting. was like good at one thing. Right. But then for me, like I started learning all these things. Um, John Carlton was copywriting and I liked all these people.

They had one thing and I was like, for me though, I was like, I was good at all those things. I knew how to do SEO and I knew how to do pay-per-click and I knew how to do copywriting and I knew how to do product launches and I knew how to do all these weird things. And so like, um, I would try to sell myself. It's like I could teach, I can do everything for you guys and I would try to show them how to do everything. And what's interesting is as I've tried to show people how to do everything, um, it was hard to really grow and scale my, my empire, whatever you want to call it. Right.

Um, and it was always weird to me. So I'm like, Oh, you can go there and get that one thing, that person, but you can get like everything for me that come to me. And, um, and, uh, I think it's because I loved it all. And I geeked out and I wanted to share it all. Um, but because like no one could ever look at Russell and be like, Russell's the guy who does this. They were like, Russell is, you know, he's this guy who's teaching all sorts of stuff. And like, because I didn't specialize, nobody ever wanted to come to me. It was really just, it was interesting. Um, and it was always frustrating to me because I was just like, oh, I felt like I was as good as not better than most of these people. But because I didn't

specialize, it was harder to get to people in. Right. And so, um, that was me for a decade though. But I, I struggled because I, like, I knew I was good at all these different things. So because of that, I wanted to do them all. Um, now fast forward to, you know, four or five years ago, whenever, um, we started making this transition and, um, you know, as we launched click funnels, I kind of became the funnel person. Right. And, and it wasn't like strategic. It just became, cause I was click funnels is like, Oh, he's the guy who does funnels. And I started talking about more, start sharing it more. And like, I became obsessed with just that one piece. And so, uh, because of that, I started just going deep into two funnels. I think that if you ask anybody

now, like they look at me as like, Oh, Russell's the funnel guy. Right. Like, um, and I wasn't the first phone guy. I wasn't, you know, I, and honestly I've been, I've been teaching funnels for a decade prior to that. Right. Um, but for some reason, like it wasn't like my, it was just like one of the things in my tool belt, but it wasn't the thing when it became the thing is changed everything. my business. And all of a sudden, like people who wanted to learn funnels came to me and I watched as my empire, my brand, my whatever you want to call it, started growing dramatically. Now after I became the guy at this one thing, I was the guy at funnel building. What's cool is I bring my audience in

but I can still do and still serve them all the other things, right? But it all comes down to one core thing, like funnel building. That was my thing. I was the guy about funnels.

And then I could teach traffic. Instead of teaching traffic, it was like fill your funnel here's how we fill your funnel full people i could still teach copywriting but wasn't just like copywriting it was funnel scripts like here's how we do the copy for your funnels i i could still teach um traffic generator i mean all these different pieces right that i was good at i used to teach them all but they're all in the context of this one thing funnel building and when i did that boom, you know, you've seen how things grew and I was able to build, you know, we were able to build software around it and like trainings and everything else, masterminds and coaching programs all around this one thing, which

was the funnel. Now, once again, like inside of that, I can teach all the things I did before, but because now it's known for one thing, that was the key. Um, and, uh, so that was kind of the first thing I want to share with you guys, but it goes deeper than that. So, um, uh, today I had a chance. I, uh, my wife's out of town at a funeral for her grandma. And so, um, I was home with the boys and so I just spent a lot of time with them, which was fun. And then I also went, um, uh, and worked out for my, on my own and kind of just, um, had some time to myself too. So I was listening to podcasts and one of the podcasts i was listening a lot to was dana derrick's um his podcast and one of his books and stuff like that and it's been interesting because i've known dana now for

probably two or maybe three years or something like that he drew my inner circle and he spoke from hakimaya this year it was interesting it's like when i met dana he uh he was famous at the time for like copywriting for amazon listings he He would charge people $10,000 or $20,000 to write a listing in Amazon. And that was his thing, right? And it was good. He was making really good money, but it's one-off things. And he got tired of writing. So he was like, well, I'm going to write a book, teach people how to do what I do.

So he wrote this book. And then he was like, instead of selling the book for really, really cheap, he bought himself a really expensive. So he started selling these books, teaching people how to do Amazon copywriting for like $500 to $1,000 per book. And that started doing better, gave them leverage, started making more money, but still the marketplace, you know, that it wasn't like the big market that I think he really wanted. And so then he transitioned from, from there to like teach me like, Hey, you can write these really sensitive books like I did. So we created

a book. They started selling for like $2,500 that taught people how to write books and sell them for like a thousand dollars at a time. And that was a thing. It was doing well, but I don't think it was ever huge. And then, um, how he started selling that book is that there was, he, um, he, uh, got a strategy. I think he, um, he got it from me and I got it from Chet Holmes and it was this concept of the dream 100. But Chet Holmes, there's one chapter in his book called the dream 100. And then inside of my, my training, I think i've referenced it four or five times like i'm a big believer in the dream 100 in fact my new book traffic secrets the foundation of that is the dream 100 which is kind of cool um but then uh dana took it and like put on steroids he wrote a

whole book about he started doing it he did for his own stuff and he started for other people and like that became this like this new like if you look at dana like he's become the dream 100 guy and like he has a whole back-end thing for like i don't know 30 or 40 50 000 he actually does the dream 100 for you and like all these crazy things um he's got his book on dream 100 and like now like that's become his his his thing and um and you know he may he may transition again in the future who knows but for right now like that's becoming his's becoming his thing. He's got the book on the front and he's got the done for you, done with you on the back and all these things. And he's going deep, deep, deep, deep into this one little piece, right? This one piece was like a chapter of Chet Holmes book. It was a chapter of

what I share and he's taken it and gone deep and built a huge business out of it now. And it's all just because he is now the dream 100 guy he's focusing uh really really tight on that which is just um really fascinating to me um uh you know again i took my like here's my scope of everything i could possibly do and i went took one piece of it and became the guy and he went deep on that that's everything blew up for me for dana i think it's the same thing like there was copywriting and then there's there was um writing and all these different things but it it became like dream 100 traffic. Like this is how you get traffic. This is the best way to get traffic. The only way to get traffic is you focus on dream 100, dream 100, dream 100. Like that's when things blew up. Now he's got his dream 100 con coming out,

which is a big event and he's doing all these things, but he's going deep in that one vein. And that's where now people are coming to him because he's the guy that does the dream 100. Right. Um, and, uh,, I think that's so cool. I saw recently also Stephen Larson's sister used to work for us, Marie Larson. And I don't know everything, kind of her whole story, but what she's done really good is, I believe she was helping Stephen with his podcast and getting it published or whatever. And she decided, I'm going to become the podcast person. So she went down and was like, I'm going to become the

best person at, at, uh, at podcasting. And so she did that. And, um, I'm going to teach real new podcasts. I'm going to help new podcasts, but I built a service around them to do my podcast about podcasts and like all this stuff and started focusing on that one little piece, like one little sliver of the market. And because she's now becoming that person, like people are coming to her and she's helping them do podcasts. And she went from, you know, not making any money online to overnight, you're making, I have no idea her revenue. So I'm guessing $5,000, $10,000 a month or more just because that became the thing. Right. Um, another good one is, uh, Yana Golan, um, who, uh, super cool person. And she was doing relationship coaching, other things and having success in

different pieces. But, um, inside of dot dot-com seekers book there's one little chapter about soap opera sequences right how to write these soap opera sequences and so she took that piece and started for herself and started with some friends and started having success and started geeking out on going deeper deeper deeper now she's like i'm just gonna be the person who writes these really amazing email sequences and then she did for one person and it blew up for them. Then someone else, someone else. And then ever started hearing about it. And right now she's making, I don't know her exact numbers.

I probably not even, I know it's well, I know it's more than $25,000 a month she's making out writing emails for people and going deep into that. And she hasn't even created a course or training or anything. She's just doing the service

and making more than a doctor makes, right? Cause she went super deep on that one little skill at one little piece. Um, and so for you guys, I think a lot of times we're trying to become so good at everything, teach everything, do everything. And I kind of think, but it's like, look at the whole market, look at all this about there and just pick the sliver that you could become the person that then you can go the deepest, the best in the world at that one little thing. I figure out that one little piece and go, go deep. Like that's, that's the magic.

It's not in being a generalist who's good at everything. You can do that. You should be that because it's good to have your skillset there. But the magic comes in when you specialize in like in, in the little thing. Right. I mean, look at doctors, for example, The more a doctor specializes in a thing, the more money they can charge, right? I have a lot of people

who live around me that are doctors and the ones who go to more medical schools specialize in a tinier thing, make more money than the generalists who are able to fix kind of everything. And so that's the mindset when you're thinking through. It's like in your market,

what is the, like how do you become the person, like the sliver, like that one little piece that you're going to own is going to be your thing that you do better than anyone else. You can geek out on. So if someone's like, what does so-and-so do? Like, oh, he's the person, or she's the person that does podcasting,

that does email sequences, that does weight loss for teenagers. I mean, whatever it is in your market, like what's that thing? Find that thing. And don't be, don't be nervous. Like, Oh, it's such a small segment. Like the smaller it is, the more specific, the more specialized you become, the more valuable you are. When I became, when I was Russell Brunson, the guy who can do all, every type of marketing on demand, I was, I was a generalist and I didn't get paid what I felt like I was worth. When I specialized and became the funnel guy,

that's when my income exploded, right? And then after you understand that, then it's like when you can layer on other things within the context of that, but you do it all from that same foundation, right? Like I said, with funnel building with me, like that's my thing, but I can lay on copywriting, I can lay on trafficking, land, these other pieces still, but they're all

tied. Like you'll notice, I, I pretty much have funnel in the work. Everyone, my products now, like funnel or secret, like those two words are mine, right? They're in everything because those are the things that tie back to the one thing I'm the best in the world at. And so anyway, for you to think about that, what is the thing you can become the best in the world at? And the smaller, I mean, you think about dream 100, that's such a small thing. Like for me, just think about that. What is the thing you can become the best in the world at? And the smaller, I mean, you think about Dream 100. That's such a small thing. Like for me, it was like a page and a half in one of my books.

Like that's as much effort I put in that. Like I wouldn't have thought that you could build a huge business, but because someone took that piece, that sliver, and went super, super deep, boom, Dana's building a multimillion dollar year business out of it, right? Because Yada took soap opera sequences,

that one little piece, you know, five or six pages that she learned and then went deep with it, boom, $25,000 plus a month coming into her just for writing the emails, right? And she's just beginning this journey. That's gonna turn into a multi-million dollar business by actually doing this service and training

and teaching all the other stuff around it and with others as well. So just, anyway, just think through that, you guys. Just start thinking about that for yourselves. You don't have to be good at all these amazing things. Just pick the little, the sliver that you're going to be the best in the world that go deep there. And the deeper you go, the more you master that craft, the more people are going to come

to you because they're going to want that thing because you're the best in the world with that piece. So I hope that helps. Appreciate you guys all have an amazing night and, uh, we'll talk to you guys again soon. Bye everybody. Want more marketing secrets? If so, then go get your copies of my two best-selling books. Book number one is called Expert Secrets,

and you can get a free copy at expertsecrets.com. And book number two is called Dot Com Secrets, and you can get your free copy at dotcomsecrets.com. Inside these two books, you'll find my top 35 secrets that we've used to become the fastest-growing, non growing non-VC backed SaaS startup company in the world.