Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - (MS) Russell's CrAzY Vision, and Why You Should Care (Part 1 of 3)

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

Russell's been working on a secret all-consuming project, with box-after-box being delivered to his office. And with each box, the staff began to wonder if Russell needed an intervention. But Russell's about to reveal everything, the full vision including how he's about to raise the banner higher for entrepreneurs with "Secrets of Success"... Register for the announcement webinar by going to https://www.secretsofsuccess.com/atlas Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ClubHouseWithRussell.com Magnetic Marketing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks, and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. You're listening to Marketing Secrets with your host, Russell Brunson.

What's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today's episode is special. Right now, I'm actually in a recording booth in one of my new book offices in a soundproof little room. It's like three feet by three feet. I feel like I'm in a little box covered in padded walls. But does the audio sound amazing? Let me know how it sounds, you guys. I have headphones on right now.

I'm talking to this mic with a wind mic, and there's no echo at all, and it sounds amazing to me. So hopefully it sounds good to you as well. You know, for the first decade and a half of my, not decade and a half, first decade of my podcast, it used to be the Marketing in Your Car podcast. I literally record it while I was in my car driving on my phone. And then I transitioned to the Marketing Secrets podcast. And that's taken a million different forms.

And this week I'm going to be recording out of this little studio. So I bought this studio and created it for a reason. And I'm actually gonna talk a little about that reason today. But I'm working on a secret project. And this is a project that has been all consuming for me for the last three or four years. And you've probably heard me talk about it or mention it. But this week, I'm actually going to be sharing it with the world for the first time, which I'm excited for nervous for. Anytime you have a new, a new thing you're sharing, there's always like the fear of rejection from people, right? And it's funny because if you've been watching the journey over the last two or so years,

I've bought about 15,000 books, maybe more. I've spent a fortune on first edition books and signed books and manuscripts and unpublished works and all sorts of stuff. And from the outside, you may be like, why is Russell doing this? What is the purpose? In fact, my internal staff was always, got concerned as well when I was getting, you know, 50 to 60 packages from eBay a day, every single day for like six months in a row. In fact, I think it was John Parks, my team, that asked somebody else like, do you think we should like intervene? Should we call somebody? Like, is something wrong with Russell? Like, what is happening here? And it's interesting because like, you know how it is. I'm sure most of you is listening here, entrepreneurs or visionaries, you like, you see a vision of

something and you don't, you don't see the full vision. You see part of it, right? And so you're like, I, there's something here. And you try to explain to people, but you don't even know the whole vision yet. You just know that there's a direction and you saw something and it's important and you start moving towards it and you move towards it. It feels good. You get excited and you're like, man, if, if this desire is increasing as I'm stepping towards this thing, it must be good. So you step further and keep going. And, and, um, sometimes all the people around you are like, this person's crazy. What is happening to them? What are they doing? And why are they doing this? Right.

And I think I had a lot of that when I was younger, I was wrestling. Um, I became obsessed. Like I remember when I decided I want to be a state champ and I, um, I became obsessed with it to the point where people were like, is this healthy? Like, should he be doing other things? Should he not? But I pursued that goal with, you know, as Napoleon Hill say, definiteness of purpose. And I, and I had success.

I became a state champ. And then after that, I wanted to be an All-American. And I pursued that. And I took second place in the country and became All-American. I won wrestling college. Like, I always went after these crazy ideas, even though I didn't know how I was going to do it. I just knew that there was the goal and I wanted it. Business was the same way, right?

When I started my business 20 years ago, it wasn't cool to be an entrepreneur. People thought I was crazy. And yet I figured it out and had a lot of success. You know, even a decade ago, we launched ClickFunnels. Um, you know, like people didn't know what a funnel was and I was trying to explain to the world this thing. And it was like, it was, it was interesting. And, um, but I pursued it in a decade later, people got it right now. We have hundreds of thousands of customers, people building funnels all over the world, you know, competitors popping up left and right, trying to compete with us because we've done such a good job of it. And it's, it's, you know,

but a decade ago, it wasn't a thing. Like I had to smash through, you know, a whole bunch of stuff to make this a thing. And so for the last two or three years, it actually started, I was at Napoleon, I was at a Tony Robbins event in Fiji. And this is back when I was thinking about potentially selling ClickFunnels. And I asked him his thoughts. And some of you saw this whole YouTube video of me, this interaction with Tony. But it was interesting. He said, he's like, I would only sell it if you knew what the next thing was going to be. And I remember sitting there, I was like, I don't have a next thing.

This is all I want to do with the rest of my life. And I started thinking, I was like, well, if I had next thing, what would that be? And I didn't know right away. It didn't pop up to me. But one thing I did know, I was like, the people I haven't called to serve are entrepreneurs. That's not changing. I didn't know right away. It didn't pop up to me. But one thing I did know is like the people I've been called to serve are entrepreneurs. Like that's not changing. I don't think that'll ever change.

They're the people I'm obsessed with, people I love, people I care about, people I've been, you know, for 20 years now trying to figure out

how do I make their lives easier and simpler and how do I make them more successful? And so again, I don't think that part will ever change. But the questions

are being like, well, how can I serve them, right? We've served them with marketing advice and funnels and templates. And I was like, what's interesting is the thing that most people latch onto. It's interesting. It's not so much, I mean, people take the tactics and the techniques and the strategies for marketing and they use them. But anytime I talk about my family or my personal life or my beliefs or mindset or these other things, those are the times people like

lean in and they ask more questions. And I started realizing like, I like the, who I'm serving is not shifting. I'm still serving entrepreneurs, but how I'm serving them can expand and grow. And I started getting excited about personal development. How could I help them there? And I was like, but I don't like the thing that I think I'm different than most people. Most people who come into this world, like they are, they're an author, they're a creator, they're whatever. Right.

And I don't look at myself like that at all. Um, I look at myself as a curator, right? If you look at all of my books to this point, yes, there's original thought in those. But for the most part, my job was to curate, like listening to, you're going to thousands of seminars and reading books and podcasts and studying and learning and implementing, trying, like doing all this stuff and being like a human guinea pig. And then coming back and like, Hey, these are things that worked. And I've been very careful on my journey to try to always give credit where credit's due because, again, I don't look at myself as this – I don't have to position myself like, oh, I invented these things like so many people do, which I think for the most part is wrong. It drives me crazy because I don't look at myself as like, oh, this intellectual person who figured these things out.

I look at myself as a curator. I go through a lot of things. I curate what works and then I share those with my audience. So I always give credit where credit's due, which by the way, do that. Like I can't tell you

how much more rich my relationships have been with people who I've quoted and shared their stories with because I was willing to give them credit versus me just acting like I invented everything.

Like I could have easily, all the stuff I learned from Dan Kennedy, I could have easily been like, oh, and this is what I invented, the blah, blah, blah. But instead I gave him credit. Now I'm business partners with them. I get to talk to him every day. And like, I've made his life.

I feel happier because I've extended his legacies. I'm sharing his original thoughts. Like they're not my thoughts. Like how dare someone take someone else's original thoughts and part mark them off as their own anyway. And the relationship I have with Dan now is, has been amazing relationship with other people that I quoted, that I shared their stories, that I learned things from, like, man, I can't tell you how much better it feels to give them credit and talk to them and share with them what I learned from them. So hopefully you guys do that as well.

But anyway, as a curator, I was like, well, if I want to go a level up, right? If I'm finding these entrepreneurs early in their career, when they don't know what a funnel is yet, all they know is that they feel different, right? They feel unique. Like the people around them think they're weird. They have drive and passionate, but they don't know what to do with it. Like how do I, how to reach those people earlier? And then long-term they'll still come down and we'll get them, you know, ideally in the

ClickFunnels and marketing, all that kind of stuff. But it begins with growth. Like if you read the expert secrets book, I talk about the transition from growth to contribution, right? We go through a phase of personal growth. We're growing and developing and learning. And then eventually we start tapping out. Like you can't grow past a certain level until you shift your focus from growth to contribution, helping other people. Right. And so that became the, that became the thought in my head is that all the people I'm serving right now with ClickFunnels and my books

are people who are trying to do contribution, right? They're trying to start a business. They went past that first tier. So I'm like, how do I get people during the first phase of their journey, which is growth? Like when they're growing before they have figured it all out, before they've figured out their framework or their idea, the thing they want to share with the world, but they're just struggling and they're trying to grow. And so I started thinking about that.

And again, as someone who's not a traditional author, someone who's a curator, I started saying, well, who are the people I want to learn from? Like, if I'm going to go do this, like I'm going to go study the greatest minds of our time and go and start curating these people. And then I'm going to, from that, um, from that, I'll figure out what we're going to teach and talk about. Cause I didn't know yet. And so I was like, where do I start?

And the person I started with was Napoleon Hill. Um, and so I started buying his books and then, um, and then I, I don't know what, I have a weird fascination with books probably because I'm an author. Like I know what goes into it's funny, like five minutes ago I said I'm not an author. So I'm somebody who's written a book. I'm an author, but you know, but like, I know the work that goes into writing a really, really good book. Um, like the blood, the sweat, the tears, the, like the stress, the anxiety, all the things, right. Um, when a book is done, like how it's like, like you're leaving a part of yourself. Like dot com secrets was a decade of my life,

a decade of trial and error that I, I figured out and I wrote a book and I gave it to people. And it was crazy because I used to travel the country giving speeches on the principles of dot com secrets. And after I like wrote the book, I stopped, I stopped teaching that stuff. I handed, like, I could just give someone a book and it was like, this is a decade of my life. Um, and there was something about it. Like of all the things I've created, like the book is the thing that lasted the longest, right? And I always talk about this with some of my friends who are influencers.

I'm like, the written word is the only thing that really outlives the life of the author. Like everything else dies, right? You do a live event, you know, event you know fun hockey life happens 5 000 people come we change their life and then what happens you know those people leave with it but then like it stops the ripple you know not the ripple effect but the but what happened there it ends right the course is the same way someone goes through course eventually courses seem to disappear and they people move on but there's something about the written word, like the book is still here, right? Like amazing books like the Bible and things like that, that have been around for, you know, for so long. In fact, I was doing this study on, um, I think it was the book of John. And like, we don't have the original manuscript for the book of John. I think we have the third,

the third, you know, like John wrote it and then someone took his and wrote a copy and then John's got destroyed or lost. And then someone took John's copy and then copied it again. And like, we have the third versions, the manuscripts we have in the book of John, right. Which is so cool. It's like, this is like, it's close to the source as possible. Like, I love going back to the source. Like who was, where did these ideas get originated from and why? And like, you know, it always fascinates me. And so, um, uh, and I'd bought in a couple of old first edition, uh, Mormon books and book, a book of Mormon and a couple of things like that, that were really special to me. And I thought, well, if I'm going to do this,

like, like it'd be fun to have like a first edition of like some of these old books. Right. So I started searching and I found on eBay a first edition, uh, I found a bunch of like first edition, um, thinking grow riches and they weren't that expensive. So I found a bunch of like first edition Think and Grow Riches. And they weren't that expensive. So I bought a couple of them. And then I was like, yeah, that's cool. And then about that time is when I had bought this land behind ClickFunnels headquarters. And it was like three lots. And one time we were going to build a big building there, but then COVID hit.

So we decided not to build a building. But I was like, I want to turn it into something. Like it'd be cool to make this like an event center, but also like a museum. And in the museum, I could have like my first edition books. Like I have a whole library there. And that's kind of where this vision started happening. Again, I don't know. I didn't know the end of it from the beginning, but I was like, this is this vision and this is where I'm going to go.

And so I started, um, I started pursuing that. Like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to find books to put in this library that I don't even know yet. I'm going to hire an architect, start designing this library. And like, and so that's how it started. Like I have a friend who builds amazing buildings and I called him up. I said, okay, I have an idea idea and so he started designing it and his architects started working and and then i was like hey i have this big building i need books in it like i got to

find rare cool books to put inside of this and so i started searching i'm like well i have a couple thinking rich first editions like what else do i need and um i started and i went to ebay and i started searching napoleon hill i sort from highest price to lowest and the number one thing there's a book set there, The Law of Success. It was written three years before the actual Law of Success. It was for sale for $1.5 million. And I was like,

oh, I was like, that's the piece that would be the crown centerpiece of the library is the first edition Laws of Success, right? Like, and I wanted it

and I lusted after it but I was like, $1.5 million for some books is crazy. But I kept looking at it. So I started buying all the other old books and courses and records and everything I could find from him. And at one point in this journey, I almost bought Success Magazine. And so I started buying all the first edition Success Magazines from the 1800s and 1900s and started collecting those. And then eventually I got ahold of the guy who owned that first edition Law of Success from Napoleon Hill.

And I found out he'd been collecting for 20 years. And so he had a huge collection. And so I negotiated back and forth and eventually ended up buying his entire collection from him. And I flew out there and picked it up. And there's a whole vlog coming out soon of that story, which you guys are going to love. But then I had acquired, I don't know, 5,000 books from Napoleon Hill in that era. And it started this journey. I started reading the books.

I started learning about the other people. I learned about Orson Sweet-Marden, who was the guy who started Success Magazine. And I found out about him. I found out about Samuel Smiles, who was the first person who wrote his personal development book. And again, I started going down the Russell rabbit hole of like, where do these thought leaders come from? And where was the source? And so I started finding them and finding the first edition books that they wrote. And I found out that there was this window of time from like 1850 to 1950. It was called the new thought movement.

And prior to that, people had never thought like the concept of like, you can think, and by thinking you can change your life. No one in there, that wasn't a thing yet. Um, prior to that, it was, it was very different, right? And this new thought movement was where people were exposed by this thing of like how you could think and grow rich or think and change your life or thinking, you know, whatever those things were. And, um, in that era, I became obsessed with every author, every thought leader, every book, every manuscript, every, everything. I started buying them, acquiring them and keeping them. And, um, again, I was in a real, like a real vision, a full vision of where I was going. I just knew that this was a direction that was pointed in. Um, and so I was running towards it

just to figure out where, where it was going to turn out. And, um, I'm not gonna lie. It's been expensive trip. I think right now I'm about going to lie, it's been an expensive trip. I think right now I'm about $12 million into old books, which is nuts if you think about that. But man, it's been for me the most fulfilling and rewarding journey. And there's so many stories that I found that I want to share. And so I'm launching a whole new company soon. And in fact, in August, we'll officially launch.

It's called Secrets of Success. And again, you'll hear me talk more about that. But what I'm doing with it, I'm really excited for, I'm proud of, and it's going to be cool. I ended up flying out to the Napoleon Hill Foundation. We built a really good relationship with Don Green over there. He's been sending me unpublished Napoleon Hill manuscripts and works and books and just fascinating stuff. And so we have a partnership with them, actually. And so they're going to get a royalty of Air Thel, membership site because of all the amazing things that they've,

um, they've donated to the cause. Like anyway, so many stories I want to tell you, but I just don't have time in the context of this podcast episode. Um, but I do want to tell you is that, um, I finally figured out the vision for this. Like what, like, why am I doing this? What's the purpose? Is there a reason? Like, what's the reason? Like, why am I doing all this? And what's cool about it is I'm actually sharing this for the first time ever live, um, this Thursday, depending on when you're listening to this. And so, um, I'm going to put a, uh, there's a, there's a webinar registration link. You can register and, um, I'm going to tell the story and I'm gonna show a lot of these books and these manuscripts and things like that. And it's gonna be really cool. So, um, for those of

you guys who are listening to this, like put that, stop everything you're doing now and grab a piece of paper and write this down because I want you to register for it. It's www.secretsofsuccess.com slash Atlas, A-T-L-A-S. Secretsofsuccess.com slash Atlas. It's a free registration.

And during the registration, when you register, I'm going to jump on. And again, it's this Thursday, which usually when these podcasts drop, maybe I'll drop this a little earlier this week. Make sure you guys have a chance to get there. But worst case, I'll put the replay of it on that page as well.

I'm going to show you guys behind the scenes. I'm going to show you some of these books and manuscripts and things that I've acquired that are so special to me, that are so cool. So I'm going to show you guys those. But then also I'm going to show you guys the vision for the library event center. In fact, we went down to Burbank, California and rented a green screen studio. Same ones they film like Mandalorian and things like that in. And we filmed me walking through, um, the library.

Like, you know, we've got all it, we got all the designs, architect designs, like 3d design. And so, um, I'm gonna show you guys the video of me walking through and showing you all this stuff, which is really cool. And then, um, and then, uh, yeah, it's going to be really cool. I'm going to share you guys the video of me walking through and showing you all this stuff, which is really cool. And then, yeah, it's going to be really cool. I'm going to share with you guys the vision. Now, I have shared this vision once before. It was in Mexico. In fact, I'm going to do a second podcast.

We're going to drop a couple of podcasts this week. So this one's already getting long. And I want to make sure that you guys don't miss the call to action and then come back. So the next episode, I'm going to tell you guys the story about how I raised over $10 million to fund this library by making a million-dollar offer. And so episode two in this series will launch. Maybe that will launch on Thursday. I don't know. I'll talk to my brother about it, who publishes these podcasts for me. We'll drop a couple this week that will tell the rest of the story. And so, uh, that episode will tell you, I'll tell you the story

about, um, yeah, about the million dollar offer, which would be really fun. So, uh, but with that said, the end of this podcast, go and register. Do not miss. It's gonna be really fun. I'm showing you guys priceless stuff that's worth literally millions and millions of dollars. Um, telling you guys some cool stories and you'll have a chance to see like, what in the world was I thinking? Why am I doing this? Where's the vision actually going to? It's interesting. I actually, um, I shared this with my wife and some of my employees.

So by that, and after they saw the video, they're like, Oh wow, I see now. And it's so funny because prior for the last three or four years, they're like, you're crazy. What's he doing now? They're like, Oh, I see. I want to be part of it. And that's my goal for you guys. I want you guys to see what I'm creating and why, and hopefully it won't be part of it. So with

that said again, secrets of success.com slash Atlas, go and register, go check it out and come hang out with me this Thursday. We're gonna be talking a lot of really cool things. I appreciate you guys. That's it. I'm going to end this episode and I'll do another episode that will probably drop tomorrow. So you guys go early. I'm telling you a story about the million dollar offer. And also I'm going to talk to you guys about how you can actually come to Boise, Idaho for the groundbreaking ceremony. That's happening less than a month from now. There's 60 people are going to be coming. And, um, if you want to find out how to be one of those 60 people in Boise during the literal groundbreaking, we have shovels and tractors. We're going to dig a hole

and I've got some cool speakers coming out. Joe Vitaly's and come out and speak and a bunch of other cool people. Um, if you want to be part of that private groundbreaking ceremony, I'll see you on the webinar. So, secretsofsuccess.com slash Atlas, A-T-L-A-S. And that's the thing, you guys. And I'll talk to you guys on the next episode. Bye, everybody.