Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - (MS) You're One Funnel Away - Part 1 (Revisited)

Episode Date: June 16, 2023

In 2017, I recorded this podcast with a recap of my (then) most recent Funnel Hacking LIVE presentation entitled, "You're One Funnel Away". As we've been developing the funnel strategies further and further, I wanted to take a moment and touch base again on this concept, because it's core to everything we're doing. And while you listen to this 2-part episode, listen and relate your business to my story, specifically in this episode - how I saved Christmas with a funnel. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ClubHouseWithRussell.com Magnetic Marketing FunnelHackingLIVE 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.

Hey everyone, it's Russell Brunson. Welcome to a special Marketing Secrets episode where I'm going to let you guys see behind the scenes of one of our presentations from last year's Funnel Hacking Live. All right, so this presentation is one that I was really nervous about giving. It was called One Funnel Away, which was the whole theme of the last Funnel Hacking Live event. And it's something that I wanted to share my failures, my bankruptcy stories, the ups and the downs. Everyone here talks about the highlight reel.

I wanted to share the other side of it. I don't typically release sessions from Funnel Hacking Live anywhere, but this one had such a big impact on our audience and helped people know that everyone, including me, especially me, has big ups and big downs, yet literally we're just one funnel away from success each time. And so as we were preparing for next year's Funnel Hacking Live, which will be coming live soon at FunnelHackingLive.com, I was kind of re rewatching some of the presentations. I saw this one. I was like, I want more people to have this. So I'm going to break this episode into two episodes. This

is episode number one. Go check it out and leave me a comment if you like it. Please subscribe, tell other people about it, and hopefully it'll give you some hope and some faith that the path you were on is right and that this process is going to get you what you want and what you desire and let you have the best serve other people. So that's the game plan now. Check out this episode, and I'll see you on part two tomorrow. Okay, so what I want to do is I want to go on a journey with you guys, my journey, which started way back over here on my timeline and my backstory. So those who know me or have heard about me or know

anything about this, I got started. Initially, I started learning about business when I was a 12 or 13 year old kid sitting there with my dad. He was watching the news and I was watching it with him. And I was sitting there. I'm like, I can't believe he hasn't told me to go to bed yet. This is the coolest thing in the world. And the news was on. And then when the news ended, then MASH came on and I was like, I don't, he must think I'm asleep or something. Like he hasn't told me to go to bed and I'm sitting there like trying to move. I don't want him to know. As I'm watching MASH with my dad, I thought it was the coolest thing in the whole world. And then when MASH got done, like he still like didn't say anything about, he's got to be convinced I'm asleep. This is so cool. And then

the next thing came on and it was an infomercial, late night infomercial with Don Lepree. How many of you guys remember Don Lepree? Yes. Just amazing person. And he had an infomercial and I was so grateful for him and for his passion, his excitement talking about what he was doing. And he was talking, the infomercial is about how to place tiny little classified ads. You can make a fortune, right? And it was, God, it was the coolest thing. I remember sitting there listening to him and I was like, this makes so much sense. I'm looking at my dad like, you paying attention to what's happening? Like, this guy is, the whole thing made so much sense to me. He said, I took a classified ad, I put it in a newspaper, and I made $30. And I told my friends and my family, like, I started a business, I made $30 this week.

And they all laughed at me. He's like, so then I took that same ad, and I ran it in 1,000 newspapers the next month, and I made $30,000. And I was just like, mind blown. And I've been just, I've been ruined from that day on when it came to the world. I'm like, I can't, like, I can't not do something like this. I was so excited. I saved a bunch of money, uh, mowing lawns and everything. And eventually I bought Don the priest kid on an infomercial. I read through it all. I learned it and I wasn't able to actually do anything though, because I didn't have money to do direct mail and all sorts of things like that. That's how I first heard about

direct response marketing. I remember after I got Donald and Preece kid, I got so excited. I was at the grocery store with my mom one time and we're walking out and on the checkout stand, there was a magazine. It was called small business opportunity magazine. Had a whole bunch of little cartoon people in front of me. How many of you guys have seen that magazine before? That's it? This is like the greatest swipe file of direct response ads ever. So I didn't know at the time, though. There's like 30 things talking about how to get rich quick.

And I'm like, sweet, I want to get rich quick. That'd be awesome. So I had my mom buy me this magazine. I went home. And if you look at it, it's like 140 pages of ads and four pages of articles. It's pretty awesome. And so I'm looking at every single ad. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I can sell gold chains at the mall and make money. And so I call this 1-800 number for free info kit. I'm like, yeah, free info kit sent to my house. And then like

the next page, it's like something else. Page after page, all 140 pages. I called every single 800 number to request the free info kit. And about a week later, I started getting these gifts in the mail. First it was like two or three letters. Then it was like 10 or 15 letters. Then it was like 60 or 70 letters. And I think those people started selling my name to other mailing lists. As soon as it became like hundreds of letters. And the mailman could not physically shove the junk mail in the mailbox anymore because there was so much coming in.

So I get home from junior high and I'd come home and I'd walk into the house. And I see on the bar, I see two or three letters from my parents and Russell's stack of junk mail. And they're like, there's your junk mail. I was like, oh, and I take it in my room and I'd open it. I'm like, read these things. I'm like, this is so cool. And all these money-making ideas. So that happened at a young age. Unfortunately, again, I couldn't do anything. Well, I tried once. So this one person convinced me that like direct mail was the key. And like, all you do is you get a list of buyers who bought similar products and you write a sales letter and you mail it to those people and a percentage will buy. I'm like, awesome.

Only problem is I can't afford a mailing list. Um, and I don't have any stamps or any envelopes or anything. And so I'd done something, I'd made a little bit of money doing some, some chores. And I asked my mom to go, uh, take that money and instead buy stamps and bring me home stamps. So she brought me home 38 stamps. That's how much money I had made. And I had 38 stamps. I was like, this is so awesome. I used to tell my, my brothers and sister and parents always used to tease. Oh, not my parents and tease me. My brothers, my sister did. Cause I'd always like, I'm going to be a millionaire any minute now. And like, this is going to work. And they used to be like, Oh, are you a millionaire yet? Oh. And like, totally make fun of me. Right. So I had these 38 stamps. I'm like, okay, if I can get 10% of

these people to say to buy, that's three people. If I sell a $50 product, it's $150. I was like, God, I'll be rich. So I didn't know what to do. And so they talked about sales letters. And so I was like, I write sales letters. I printed it out on blue paper. So I made blue paper. Let me more likely to read. So I, I went on my parents' computer, I wrote a little sales and I printed out 38 copies of it. I couldn't afford an envelope. So I just folded it and stapled it. And then I didn't actually have a mailing list, so I just opened the white pages and flipped through and randomly picked 38 names. I'm like, this is gonna be huge.

So I wrote it, put my stamp on, and all my savings, put it in the mailbox, and I was just like, I am gonna be rich. This is gonna be amazing. I sent it out, told everybody, when this comes back, it's over. I'll be able to move out, have my own house. It's gonna be amazing. And unfortunately, nobody responded. So that was the only time I was

able to invest. I didn't have the money to even buy a classified ad in a newspaper. So I just kind of, after that, I just kept reading all this junk mail and learning from all these people. And then a couple years later, I got into wrestling, and I kind of forgot about making money. But there was a seed that had been planted. So I wrestled through high school, had a lot of fun, got a college scholarship. I wrestled through college. And when I was going to college, I met my insanely beautiful wife, who most of you guys, if not, she's right here hiding. And I met her and fell in love really, really quick. And I spent the next like three or four months trying to convince her. In fact, it was probably the hardest sale I ever had to convince her that

I was the right one. And luckily, she said, do you see that picture? I was kind of a geek, not going to lie. Anyway, convinced her to marry me. And it was, it was amazing. And about the time we got engaged, I realized my dad said, well, when you get married, like, I'm not going to keep supporting you. Like, that's when you become a real man and you have to like, I'm like, what? But dad, like, I'm wrestling and they're covering my school, but I, like, he'd always send me money to pay for food and stuff. And he's like, no, like, if you get married, like, you're kind of on your own. Like, I'm like, crap, I want to get married, but I don't want to, like, grow up yet, dang it, and my wife was a fiance at the time, wife now, she was working, and she was making money, and she got a second job to support us,

and I was just, like, wrestling, I'm like, I don't have any money, and so I'm like, well, I got to do something, and then luckily, the greatest thing in the world happened, that happens to a lot of us, I was up late at night stressing out about this, and then this little thing popped up on TV, it was an infomercial. And it was this guy talking about how people are making money with these little websites and that they were doing an event at Holiday Inn like the next day. And you can come and get tickets to it. I'm like, oh, this is it. So I like call the number, get my tickets to Holiday Inn. I show up to Holiday Inn. It's like a little tiny room with like 50 really, really like desperate people sitting there. And I get in there and there's a dude on

stage who's all like in a suit and tie. And I'm like, whoa, that guy looks rich. And then he started doing his thing. And within like five minutes, he closed me on like this $50 thing. And so I ran the back and I like had my one credit card. I think I had like a $300 like credit, like that was it. That's all I had earned so far. So I bought my $50 thing. I ran back. I think I had like a $300 credit. That was it. That's all I had earned so far. So I bought my $50 thing. I ran back. I'm like, oh, I'm going to make so much money with this. And then he pitched just on a website, which was like three grand. And I was like, oh, and everyone's running back buying websites. I'm like, I can't afford a website. Dang it. And they pitched website hosting at $80 a month and all these things. And so like, and then they're teaching

like, hey, if you call your bank, you can get your credit extended. I'm like, oh, sweet. I didn't know that. So I'm calling the bank like, Hey, can you make my car at a thousand dollars? Like learning all these things. And so getting my credit card bigger and, uh, which was kind of cool. And then I bought everything he told me. I'm like, all right, I need the whole thing. So I buy it all. And he convinced me.

He's like, PayPal's evil. He's like, you have to have a merchant account. There's $6,000 for merchant account. I'm like, I don't have $6,000 yet. He's like, well, you can't make money online without a merchant account. Six grand. I'm like, ah, but I couldn't afford that, but I had everything else. So now I went home. I was like, I don't have $6,000 yet. He's like, well, you can't make money online without a merchant account. Six grand. I'm like, ah, but I couldn't afford that, but I had everything else. So then I went home. I was like, cool. I got a domain name. I got hosting, uh,

you know, $1,000 worth of internet web stuff. And then we jumped online. I was like, I'm gonna have a website. I was really excited. I started, uh, Googling some things. And eventually within about 15 minutes, I realized that website hosting is not $80 a month. I realized that the domain name is not like a thousand dollars. I was like, Oh, Oh crap. Like I got taken like for all these. And then I was just like, I was freaked out. And so I ended up calling the next day and I was like, yeah, so my son is a minor and he, I was at your event last night and he charged all his credit cards and he needs to be out of this contract. And, uh, they, they got me out of the contract and gave me my money back. So that's one trick if you ever need to get out of a contract. It's worked almost every time.

So those are the real dot-com secrets. All right. So I got a contract. But at that point, like, I was in. I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, I just need to sell stuff on the internet. And so that started this thing about the time my wife and I were getting ready to get married and I was like trying to sell stuff and I was selling like all sorts of different things.

I remember initially I thought maybe it's eBay, like people make money at eBay. And I remember driving to the thrift store, buying everything that I could find that I thought was worth value. And then like on my bike with like grocery sacks full of crap, like driving my bike back home. And I had, I remember like about a Michael Jackson record. So I'm like, dude, records are so old. This has got to be worth like hundreds of dollars. I ended up selling it for 13 cents on eBay. So depressed. Anyway, and all these things, then I was like, and I was boxing them and I was shipping these things out. And like, when all of a sudden, I think I made like $40 or $50, but my costs were like $150, $200,

and it was like, I was going to the, trying to find boxes to box all these weird things I bought, and it was just a horrible thing, and I'm sitting at the post office with like 18 different boxes of weird things, like records and all these things, and there's this dude standing there with a big, huge, like, box full of CDs, like hundreds and hundreds of CDs, and I'm here with like big, huge box full of CDs, like hundreds and hundreds of CDs. I'm here with a wheelbarrow full of odd boxes. I'm like, dude, what are you selling? He's like, oh, I sell information products. I was like, what does that mean?

He's like, all these CDs have info burned on them. People pay me and I ship them a CD. I'm like, is it the same CD? He's like, yeah, I have a CD burner. I just burn them. And then I put them in these things and I send them out. I was like, are you kidding me? They're all the same size. I could buy buy one box and just like, it'd be so much easier.

And so that was, we started talking about information products. I was like, I don't know if that was even a thing. And so I got all excited about information products. So I started Googling stuff and started learning about, uh, how information products. And I ended up finding this CD was called, it was a CD that had like 8,000 coloring book pages for kids. And, uh, and I, the guy was selling it. So I emailed him. I was like, dude, this CD is cool. 8,000 coloring book pages for kids. And the guy was selling it. So I emailed him. I was like, dude, this CD is cool. I was like, can I buy the rights from the CD so I can, I want to sell it.

And he was like, I've never done that before. But sure, for 200 bucks, I'll sell you the rights and you can sell it too. I'm like, sweet. So I gave him $200 I didn't have and he gave me the rights. So he had the CD. And then basically all I do is I had to burn it on a CD burner. I can mail out as many times as I wanted. And he had a big long sales letter he let me the rights. So he had the CD and then basically all I had to do was I had to burn it on a CD burner and I could mail it out as many times as I wanted. And he had a big long sales letter he let me use.

So I put his sales letter up and I started trying things. And what was cool is I started making sales. Not a lot, like every other week we make a sale for 20 bucks. And then I'd go burn a CD and I put it in an envelope and I'd ship it out. And I was just like, this is so cool.

Information products became like the thing and I was trying to figure out how that whole thing worked. And, and, um, that's why I started bumping into people like Yannick Silver and all these different internet marketing gurus and watching what they were doing, selling information products. And I was just hooked to that point. And, um, about that time I started, um, watching what they were doing, started learning. I started creating different things that, uh, my flashlight's still on. Sorry. And I started creating things. In fact, one of my very first products ever, is anybody in this room remember the product Zip Brander? Yeah, like three people. Vijay does. Um, so I had all these, these info products and I

was buying resell rights, other people's products. I'm selling these things. And I remember like, I was like, wouldn't it be cool if there was a way where like, it's when I sent this file, this digital file to somebody, it's like when they first open it, instead of just getting the file, they would see an ad for my product and then they see the file. And I was like, that was my first like, like light bulb. I'm like, oh my gosh. I was like, it's like zipping a file, but you'd zip it and they'd be branded. So they open it, they'd see your ad first. I was like, this is the, like, I thought it was it. Like that is my idea. This is going to change the world as we know it right and so i bought ziprander.com and i remember arman mourn at the time was one of the guys i was studying and like

i was just like arman is so cool like everyone of his sites look very similar they're so cool i'm looking and like arman's like he had a big header graphic with his picture like his arm folded with a tie with a suit coat on i was like oh dude that's what i need so i got a picture of me like folding my arms and suit coat and he had was like, oh, dude, that's what I need. So I got a picture of me, like, folding my arms in a suit coat. And he had this header inside. The header looked just like his. His was always, like, e-cover generator and size, like, zip brand. It looked, like, identical. And then this is where, like, my funnel hacking started. So he had this big, long sales letter. I'm like, that looks weird, but Armin's doing it, so I'm gonna do it. So, like, I looked at his sales letter. I wrote my own based on that. And then I was like, how do I create this? I didn't know that.

And so my first thought is, like, oh, well, I should just become a computer engineer. And, uh, and then I was like, how do I, how do I create this? I didn't know that. And so my first thought is like, oh, well I should just become a computer engineer. Like that'd be the coolest thing. Like I want to make software. So I switched my major to like computer information systems, like learn how to code. Right. It was about the time that semester was changing. So I get to class the first day and he should get up there and starts talking about code and like databases and all these things, structures. And I was sitting there like, oh crap, I have no idea what he's talking about. Like not even a little bit. And within about 15 seconds, I realized that I'm not a coder and never will be a coder. Couldn't even understand. I thought it was a Spanish class or something. And I'm just like, I don't even know what he's saying,

but I didn't know how to change my major again. And I kind of was, so I just kind of stayed in it. And, um, and a little while I kind of got depressed. I'm like, well, that was my one idea. Like, I guess I can't do it. And then I remember I was listening to a teleseminar. I was on a wrestling tournament. We were driving to California. It was like a 16-hour drive. I downloaded on my, it was pre-iPods.

It was like this little tape player thing, a whole bunch of teleseminars Armin had done. I'm listening to these things in the back of the car where all the other wrestlers are like partying and having fun and like listening to music. And was listening to these seminars and uh they were totally making fun of me the whole thing if you meet any of the wrestling buddies like they relentlessly made fun of me the entire entire trip like you're such a nerd like you're never gonna make any money i'm like no i swear i will so i'm listening to these things the whole way and uh and in one of these

things like 22 hours into this this thing i'm listening to Armin says, like, yeah, I don't code software. I go to, at the time, it was called ScriptLance. I go to ScriptLance, and I pay guys in Romania and India really, like, hardly anything to build stuff. And I was like, Armin is not a programmer? I thought he was a programmer. There are people in India that can do this? So I went, like, literally that night, jump on ScriptLance, and I, and actually prior to that, I tried to hire a company to do it, and they quoted me $5,000. I was like, okay, well, I don't have that.

I took the same description I'd given these guys, and I posted it on Scriplance. Instantly, all these people started bidding on it. One guy was like, I'll do it for $5,000. I'll do it for $2,000, for $1,000, for $500. It came all the way down to this guy named Cyprian in Romania. He said, I'll do it for $20. I was like, I got 20 bucks. So I picked him and, uh, he's like, all right, so this is how I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about, but just do it. So he did like spent like two or three days, sends it back. He's like, here it is. So I tried it and

I like zipped a file and I opened it and my ad showed up. I was like, you did it. Oh my gosh. He's like, yeah, thanks for the 20 bucks. I was like, no, you like, this is going to be huge. Like I'm going to make millions of dollars. I feel guilty giving you $20. Can I pay you an extra hundred? He was like, yeah. So I gave him a hundred dollars and I felt good about it. And, um, that was my very first software product I ever did. And it didn't make me millions. I probably made, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 grand with that product. It was the first one I had, I had a sales letter, started driving traffic. I was doing Google ads. I was finding JV parking, all these things. I started selling it. And that was like the first thing that actually made me any money. Is that exciting?

What's up everybody? This is Russell Brunson. I've got something really cool for you today from my friend Taylor Wells. And Taylor spoke at our last Funnel Hacking Live because I wanted him to share a really cool concept about what he calls the revolving pricing method. And today he decided to sponsor the podcast to give you guys more access to this super cool strategy that you are going to love. It's something we've been implementing into our high-end coaching program as well, and it is amazing. But to kind of give you some context about this offer he's making for you guys, as you may or may not know, a few years ago, JPMorgan Chase did a study, and guess what they found? They found that the average small business only has about 28 days of operating expenses in reserve.

That's right, less than a month of cash on hands. Now, if you're like me, the idea of your business being one bad month away from disaster is enough to make your stomach drop. Am I right? Especially with how the economy's been lately. It's not the time to be gambling with your finances. So, Taylor put together this book called The Revolving Pricing Method, and it's awesome. It helps you turn every client you close into a long-term profit machine. We're not talking about one-time paydays. We're talking about creating sustainable and real predictable income for the long haul. Now, here's where it gets even better.

Taylor put together an awesome exclusive deal just for you guys, my Marketing Secrets listeners. And if you go over to wealthyconsultants.com slash secrets, you can grab The Revolving Price Method book and over $150 worth of bonuses and get this all. It's at 70% off. And I promise you guys as a customer of this, you are going to love it. So if you're serious about growing your business with real stability, this is the model you need to add into your funnels. So go over to wealthy consultant.com slash secrets, grab your 70% off deal, and let's start turning your clients into long-term revenue. Again, that's wealthy consultant.com slash secrets. Do not miss out. Hey, this is Russell Brunson,

and I wanna jump in really quick to share with you a new assessment I found out that is insanely cool. You guys know I'm obsessed with personality profiles and assessments, but this one is different because not only does it help you understand yourself, but more importantly, especially for us who are entrepreneurs,

it helps us understand our employees, our teams, and get people sitting on the right seats in the bus so they can get more stuff done. I just had a chance to interview Patrick Lanchoni talking specifically about this new assessment they created called Working Genius. And the Working Genius is awesome. Like this test, I had actually blocked out an hour to take it

because I was so excited for the new assessment. And it only took me like 10 minutes or less to get it done. Yet, even though it takes only 10 minutes, like you can actually apply this immediately. I took it for myself. I had my team take it. And what's cool about it is from there, we figured out exactly what people's working geniuses are. And that's important because if you're building a team or a company,

you got to figure out, make sure that you have first off the right people, but make sure the right people are sitting in the right seats on the bus. And this is what this assessment will teach you how to do. Um, normally this assessment, you can go to working genius.com and there's two G's in the middle working genius.com, but I got you a 20% discount on the assessment, you can go to workinggenius.com and there's two G's in the middle, workinggenius.com. But I got you a 20% discount on the assessment, which is only $25. So don't stress. It's not an expensive test at all. But you get a 20% discount off when you put in the keyword secrets at checkout. So go to workinggenius.com. Again, two G's, workinggenius, two G's in the middle, workinggenius.com. And then use promo code secrets, S-E-C-R-E-T-S at checkout, get 25% off. But then we'll take the test again. It takes you 10 minutes. But even in a 10 minute session,

you will get something that is so insanely valuable to help you understand yourself, to make sure you're working in a spot that's going to give you the most joy, number one. But then number two, it's going to make sure that you are with your teams, getting them in the right seats as well. So anyway, I love this assessment. Go check it out at workinggenius.com and enter the promo code secrets for 20% discount. Take this test for yourself and for your team. And I promise you, it'll change the working dynamics amongst everybody

and help your company to grow. How many guys want ZipRander? The first 30 people in the back? Just kidding. No, okay. It doesn't work anymore. The coding all stopped working like 10 internets ago. So it's done.

But that was my first software product. It was so cool. About that time is when I started learning more about info products. That's when the potato gun came out, potato gun DVD, all these things. I was just doing all these little businesses and none of them were like huge smashing, like million dollar successes. I didn't pull Dan Henry and read a book. And five months later made a million bucks. Like I was like, Hey, I made five grand here. Oh, I made $200 here. Oh. And these little things kept, kept happening. It was so cool. And, um, and every five grand here. Oh, I made $200 here. And these little things kept happening. It was so cool. And every project did a little bit better.

It was kind of this slow momentum. Everyone did a little bit better than the last one because I got more customers were coming in and more people. And I kept just making things in different markets, potato guns and all these sorts of different things. And each one got a little bit better. And it was just fun. And I remember back then I started doing teleseminars. And I was like, I'd get like 30 people online, and I'd talk about something, and I'd sell it at the end,

and some people would go buy it, and it was so exciting. And that was like the start of this whole thing for me. And then one of my friends, BJ, who's sitting over here, he was a wrestler at Nebraska, and I wrestled at Boise State. It was our senior year, and my senior year I'd made, I'd made a pretty good amount, probably $150,000, $200,000, somewhere in there, my senior year. And he'd heard about it. And so Boise State was wrestling Nebraska and we're sitting there wrestling and we're glaring at each other because we're opposite teams. And afterwards he's like,

hey man, so someone told me you're making money. Is that true? And I was like, yeah. He's like, how are you doing it? How are you doing it? And so we kind of talked about it a little bit. And then we flew back to our places, figuring out college and we kind of talked back and forth a couple, you know, for a little while. And then, uh, after college got in, he's like, Hey man, um, I want to do what you're doing. Uh, can I get a job? I was like, you want a job? He's like, yeah. I'm like, well, what would you do all day? He's like, I don't know. I'll do what you're doing. I'm like, okay. And can we talk about marketing stuff? He's like, well, what would you do all day? He's like, I don't know. I'll do what you're doing. I'm like, okay. And can we talk about marketing stuff? He's like, oh, I love talking about it.

I'm like, that'd be so cool. I have nobody to talk about this stuff. Like, I thought it was just me. I was like, so you're like, you're actually interested in this thing. He's like, yeah. I'm like, okay. Yeah, man, I'll give you a job. So come on out.

So he's like, all right. So he jumps in the plane, flies to Boise and moves like literally into our office. Slept in our office for like six months. And he gets there and he's like, okay, so how does this work? Like, I never really had an employee before. I'm like, I don't really know either. Um, I'll pay you. And, uh, then we can talk about marketing and we'll sell stuff and it'll be awesome. Now me as an entrepreneur, I was in this mode of like, eat what you kill. Like I'd sell something, make a bunch of money. And I was like, sweet. And then we wouldn't do anything for like four or five months. And we'd create something, sell it, make a bunch of money.

And then that's kind of the model that I was on for a long time. Right. And then, uh, BJ came in, he wanted to be an employee and I was like, so excited. I'm like, sure. And so he's an employee. And then the weirdest thing happened is every two weeks he wanted to get paid, whether we made money or not. I'd never heard that, but I was like, okay, so here's some more money. And then two weeks later, more money. I'm like, oh crap. We haven't sold anything for like a long time. And so then, uh, and then he had some other friends that came along I was like, okay, so here's some more money. And then two weeks later, I had more money. I'm like, oh, crap, we haven't sold anything for a long time. And then he had some other friends that came along that were like, this is cool. I want to work for you, too. I'm like, all right, come on over, man.

Let's get jobs. So I gave them jobs, one of his buddies and his wife and then some other people. And soon I was like, I got all these friends that want to talk about marketing with me. This is so fun. And so we had all these people coming over. But the problem was that every two weeks they wanted to get paid, but we weren't selling anything. So I'd go lock myself in the back room and I'm like, don't bug me, you guys. I got to make money so we can all hang out again. So I closed the door and I start working and I'd be working and I'd be selling stuff. And then they'd be out there like,

dude, can we help you? I'm like, shut up. If you talk to me, I can't make money to pay you. So just like go away. And they're like, we really feel bad. Like we want to help you, Russell. I'm like, I don't have time to train you because otherwise we can't make money to pay payroll. And so they just kind of, and that was like this thing. And what's interesting is this is one of my, one of my first lessons as an entrepreneur, um, that, uh, that was tough. Right. And so, um, I had, I don't remember, I had five or six people at the time. Uh, we hired this video guy that was in so many side stories. I can't tell you all of them. He was an Indian guy who had shorts from up to here, and he had a braid that went past his shorts,

because he told me in interviews, like, yeah, I'm a video guy. I'm like, are you kidding me? We could do videos, and he's like, yeah, I got all sorts of video stuff, so we hired him, and then turned out he didn't know anything about video at all, and, but I didn't dare to fire him, because I'd never fired anyone. I was so scared, and like, every day we're like, I wish, like, he would just quit, but I don't know what to fire him, like, I don't know what to do. Like, Oh, it was, it was just all these weird learning things. Right. And, uh, and so this went on for a while. I was launching something like every week, trying to make money to cover payroll. And it's just this huge thing. And it became like horribly not fun for a long time. And, uh, it kept going worse and worse and worse until the point where it was, uh, December, it was the beginning of December. It was freezing cold. And I was looking at everything and like every penny I'd ever made

was gone. Every idea I had for like how I could hustle and like sell things to different markets like was gone. And I was just like, just drained. Like, I don't know what to do. And it was Christmas time. I was outside and I started going to go hang up lights around my house. And I had this little, somebody had sent me like an iPod Nano. And Stu McLaren had actually done an event. I don't know if Stu even knows this. And he had sent me the links to it. So I downloaded the links to this event on this iPod, plug it into my ears,

and I started like hanging up Christmas lights, which I had never done before. It's a horrible job. Turns out you can hire people for really cheap to do that. And the lights look really straight. Mine were like, it was really bad. And I kept stapling through the wire, which would then kill the lights. And it was bad. And my fingers were so numb.

I had this little light coat on. I remember like, God, my fingers were so numb. And I couldn't, I had to have my gloves off to be able to like squeeze the thing. And so like, I put them back in and get warm. Then I go back in and, and I didn't really want to go inside and get warm because I was so depressed because I knew that, um, that like the next payroll was coming up in like a week or so. And I was like, I don't have the next payroll was coming up in like a week or so. And I was like, I don't have money. Like, I don't know what to do. And like tomorrow I need

to go in and tell these guys, otherwise they're going to like, it's going to be really awkward when your payroll does come in. I'm like, Oh, sorry guys. So I'm like tomorrow I have to go tell everybody this. And so I stayed outside in the cold cause I didn't want to go in. Um, and I just was trying to think. And so I'm stapling these Christmas lights around the house. So I'm listening to this audio, and in the audio, there's two different speakers talking about different business models. Back then, none of us called these things funnels,

but they talked about these different business models, what they were doing. And one of them was an offline guy. His name is John All, and some of you guys have heard me talk about him. He's the guy talking about attractive character. And he said, he's like, I have this thing that I've been doing

where I create these CDs and then I tell everyone it's so controversial that I can't put it on the internet, which is like the funniest thing ever. It's like, so because of that, you got to pay me $5 and I will ship you the CD. And then he said, what happens is that I ship him the CD, but then that customer financed me putting a set, like sending them a sales letter. I was like, dude, that is like brilliant. I'm like, we got to do

that. And I remember I'd filmed the CD like two years earlier, um, or DVD. And I was like, we could do that. We could burn that DVD and we can start sending that out. So that was the first, uh, the first presentation was John Allens's. The next presentation was this guy named Matt Basak. He's become a close friend since then. And Matt was talking about his business model. He said, um, what I do is I send out CDs and the people that buy the CDs, I call them on the phone and we sell them coaching. I was like, you can call people on the phone? Like I'd never, I'm an internet nerd. I'm like, wait, you pick me up. Like, and I was super scared, but I knew that there was a guy that worked for me at the time. One of those, my five or six friends

who had, who had sold things on the phone before. And I was like, oh my gosh, like what if, like what if, like, like what if we figured out something we could do where we could, like, save this thing? Like, it might actually be possible. I started getting more excited. I'm hanging up Christmas lights. I'm listening to stuff. And I'm just like, oh, my gosh. Like, this plan, this, like, funnel was going through my head.

And I'm like, okay, I think I figured out, like, a blend of what these two guys are saying could actually, could actually work. And so by the time I got to hanging up Christmas lights, I texted all of them. Like, you guys, you don't know this yet, but we're about to go bankrupt. But I got an idea that I think can save it. Let's meet tomorrow morning early. I'm going to walk you guys through what I think could actually save this business. Send. And they're all like texting back like, what?

We're going through bankruptcy? Like, oh, yeah, we're about to. And luckily, it's like, okay, let's all come in. So they all came in the next day. And I was like, you guys, I think I got a model. This is what we're going to do. I was like, remember that DVD I did like two years ago and take that. It's going to be a free DVD.

It's gonna be so controversial. We can't sell on the internet. We'll charge, I think it was four 95 shipping and handling. And we'll send this DVD out to them. And then inside the DVD, we're going to have a sales letter where we're going to sell a $5,000. Actually it was $5,500. I don't know why we said that price, but it's been $5,500. And they're like, cool. What do we sell? $5,500. I'm like, I don't know. What do you guys going to sell a $5,000, actually it was $5,500. I don't know why we said that price,

but it's $5,500. And they're like, cool. What do we sell $5,500? I'm like, I don't know. What do you guys want to sell? All right. So then we had our whiteboard and we, on our whiteboard, right? Well, if someone's game is $5,500, like we'd have to be something amazing. Like what if we did this? And we're like, and we listen, what if we do that? And we made this huge list for like two hours of like all the amazingness. And I was like, that would be awesome, but I'm not willing to do half of that stuff. So I'm like, okay, we're not going to have them sleep in my house. We're not going to have them do it. And we kind of crossed out all these things, right? Okay. And right. Okay. I'd actually be willing to sell this. I think people would actually buy that. Like that would be insane. And so we took that. And then at the same time,

we added a newsletter. So somebody bought a CD, they joined a newsletter that was $37 a month. So they came from here and they joined a newsletter. It's $37 a newsletter. So if somebody bought a CD, they joined a newsletter that was $37 a month. So they came from here and they joined a newsletter. It's $37 a month. And that was the funnel. Now back then we didn't have ClickFunnels. So luckily we had one or two nerds still working for us who were able to kind of put these pieces together. And we had this really rudimentary, like horrible looking funnel, but it was live within a day. We said, okay, let's try it. And at the time I had a little tiny email list. This is pre-Facebook, pre, it was back in MySpace days. So it was back then. We pushed some traffic to this, and we ended up selling a couple hundred of these CDs.

And in the CD, we shipped out to them. Inside, there came a sales letter talking about this. And then it put people on a continuity program. And then we called everybody about the CD and said, hey, you bought the CD. How would you like to come to Boise? And we're going to give you this. And this was our Hail Mary pass. Like, please let this work. And so we did that. We focused on it. We drove traffic to it. And when all of a sudden done over the next like two week period of time, we got 800 people to get our free CD. From that way we used to do

is everybody was on continuity. So we had 800 people that were on this $37 a month continuity, but it was free for a month. So we wouldn't make any money here, but we had 800 people's phone numbers. We were able to call and start calling them. And we didn't know anything about phone sales or anything. We were just like, Hey man, you bought the CD. You want to come and hang out with Russell? They're like, yeah. And, uh, in that, in that two week period of time, we sold 10 people at $5,500 a piece, which ended up being 55K. And that funnel saved Christmas. Isn't that awesome? It's awesome.

I was able to pay all of our payroll. We had some money left over. It was awesome. And the coolest thing is 30 days later, then this club started, and all these people were on continuity, and suddenly we had a business. This is where I learned the power of continuity. David Fry, who's one of my favorite people in the whole world, he's in the

audience here somewhere, I think. He used to always say, he's like, until you have continuity, you don't have a business. And I never understood that till this. There's David smiling over there. I love that guy. And now I found out how suddenly I had these people. And then so what happened, I don't know the math, 800 times 37 a month, it's like 25k a month. And we knew like, we have continuity now. Every single month we have 25k and that means I can pay for employees. I can, and I realized like, you don't hire employees before you have continuity. But now we have continuity. Now we actually had people covered and we could actually focus and think. And that was the first funnel that really kind of saved things and turned it around for us.