Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson - When Your Worst Day Becomes Your Best Day

Episode Date: December 31, 2018

Reflecting back on the darkest day of my life, and how necessary it was for me to become who I am today. On Today's episode Russell talks about his darkest time and how that lead him to all the good things in his life. Here are some of the inspirational things you will here in this episode: Why losing in the state wrestling championship senior year of high school made it possible for Russell to become everything he is today. How he was able to pull himself up and work harder than ever before to try and become the best. And why we should try to look at our hard times as good learning experiences and how they could be just what we need to become everything we want to be. So listen here to find out why not being state champ senior year of high school led Russell to where he is now. Transcript - https://marketingsecrets.com/blog/when-your-worst-day-becomes-your-best-day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey everybody, this is Russell Brunson. I want to welcome you to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today, I actually want to share with you a story that happened back when I was wrestling in high school. 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 answer. My name is Russell Brunson and welcome to Marketing Secrets. Hey everyone. So I am, wrestling season's done with my kids, as you know, and it's fun because I've had a chance to finally get back to work, and you know, I bought three hours a day back in my work, and it's been interesting since I've got back to work, I've been missing wrestling like crazy, I've been missing like that extra time with my kids, and I had about

a whole week where I was just at work, you know, the full day, catching up on stuff, and it was nice, and then my kids and one of their close friends started saying, Hey coach Brunson. Um, Hey dad, can we, can we start wrestling again? We want to start practicing again. And, and, um, we kind of talked about it earlier in the season on, you know, I was like, Hey guys, if you really want to get good, um, I told him it was funny, kind of funny. I told him this because at first my kids did not like wrestling. And I kept telling him, I was like, as soon as you guys want, as soon as you like wrestling, I can make you make you really really good but you have to like it first if you don't like it i'm never gonna be able to make you good at it right because you're gonna

fight me you're not gonna enjoy you're gonna have a bad attitude but i think as soon as you like it um i can make you really really good and i've about halfway through the season um i was out i can't remember i was on some trip or some something where i was gone and um bowen oneen, one of my, one of my twins called me, he's the one that hated wrestling the most. He called me one night and said, dad, guess what? I'm like, what? He's like, I like wrestling now. I'm like, what? I was like, dude, that means we can like, I can help you become a good wrestler now. He's like, I know. And so it's been fun. And so far, anyway, so we started the practices this week with them where basically, um, Oh, and I put my two I put my two boys – the weightlifting coach that lifts weights with me. I have them lifting weights with him as well after school.

So trying to get them some muscle on their little frames. And then after they get some lifting, then I come and we do a practice for – well, it's supposed to be an hour. But so far, they're going like an hour and a half to two hours long. But they've been really, really fun. It's just us three. It's Bo and Adele, my two kids, and then Tyler, who's one of their buddies, and me. So that's four. And anyway, we did practice my two kids and then tyler who's one of their buddies um and me so that's four and um anyway we did practice yesterday we did practice today it's fun and then um saturday um i'm actually having them all come over and watching rocky part one

together because i think that's essential for you to be good at anything you got to watch rocky part one because then it gets you pumped for training hard and beating the odds and all that fun stuff so watching rocky this weekend i'm so excited. But I'm telling you this because tonight after practice, they were looking over my medals and things like that. And I was telling them about it. I showed them, you know, of all the awards I got in wrestling, one I'm most proud of was there's this plaque on the wall. It's the second place in the country, all American. And basically when I was in high school, I went to the high school national tournament and I took second place in the country, which is kind of cool. And the way it works is you have to be a state champion to qualify for that tournament and you have to be a

senior. So all the senior state champions are able to come to this national tournament and find out who's the best in, you know, the best in the country. And what's interesting though, if you look at each state, right? So like Utah, Idaho, whatever, each state, the usual different classes, right? So in Utah, there's one, a two, a three, a four and five. So I was in five, a, which is the toughest division. I was a state champ there. And then there's the other division. So there might be five or six state champs in each weight class in each state. So there's probably potentially, I don't know, 152 to 200 state champs, um, each weight class in the country every single year. Right. And so from that, you have to be a senior and you have to be a state champs, um, each weight class in the country every single year. Right. And so from that,

you have to be a senior and you have to be a state champ to qualify for this tournament. So, um, and I took second place at it. So I think there was like 68 state champs in my weight class during that tournament. And, um, I ended up beating, you know, there's a two time California state champ and a three time, uh, somewhere else, state champ and two timers. And like, just all these people had to beat to get in the finals and end up losing in the finals a really close match um but uh but anyway so i was like that's my most proud one and they started looking at my other medals and uh they're like well uh looks like it basically happened you know they're asking questions about the medals and i showed him i said this is my next favorite one this is my junior year i won the state tournament and uh and i was a state champ

and they're like oh cool and then i said but I said, but this, check this out. This is the one that was probably the most important to me. And it was my senior year and it's a third place medal. And I wait, dad, you didn't win state champ. You weren't a state champion senior year. I said, no, I was actually, I was a state champ my junior year. And then my senior year I came in and I was ranked number one. I beat everybody all year round. Um, and then in the state, uh, semifinals, there was this kid who I had, um, I had demolished him early in the year. I think I beat him 10 to one, um, earlier in the year. Um, I had him, I don't know, second or third match and we go out there and it's matching. Um, I just, my head wasn't all in it. I don't know what happened, but I got thrown to my back twice and that was, he had five points to, you know, take him down to your back.

He had five points twice. So he got 10 points from there and I ended up losing by like two. So I caught up, you know, but I ran out of time at the end and he ended up winning and which dropped me down to the consolation brackets. And I came back through and I ended up taking third place in state my senior year. And for me, it was probably the most, the most devastating moment of my entire life, prior or since, like the worst, like the most pain, the most embarrassment, the most humiliation. Because I'd worked so hard for this thing that I was sure I was going to win. And I lost it.

And against someone I'd beaten before. And it didn't seem fair. It didn't seem right. It didn't seem, you know, all these things. I was just, I was mad at myself. I was mad at just everything. Right. And, um, and I remember it was like the darkest moment of my life. And it's interesting though, because I said, I told the kids, I said, this is the thing that I lost that match. But because I lost that match, I knew that two months later was the national tournament. Um, and because I won state my, my junior year, I still qualified to go to the, to the senior nationals. And so I

signed up for senior nationals. I said, I have two months to go there. I said, based on how I did this weekend, I'm not ready. I'm not going to win. And I said, my goal was to be an all-American, which means you're in the top eight. I'm like, I'm going to, I want to go and be an all-American. Um, but what was different is, is because I had lost, I remember in my head thinking, I have to prove to everybody that I'm not just someone who once stayed and got lucky and then lost it later. Right. I had to prove that I was something special. And so because of that, like it put my, my mind into overdrive where I was like, I have to prove, I have to prove that I'm special. I have to prove that I just have to prove it to myself and to everybody. And so because I was

like, I'm going to, I'm going to train harder than anybody else. Um, and so for the next two months, I'm like, I have a two month window. I'm going to go crazy. And so during that two months I lifted every, every single day, um, I would have wrestling practice at my school. Sometimes I'd go in the morning, sometimes I'd go after school. And then after that, I found out who are the other state champions in Utah who are also going to this tournament. And I call up a bunch of them. I found out where they're at and we started driving to each other's high school. So I would drive to Taylorsville High School. I would drive to Brighton High School.

I'd drive to these different high schools. And I'd go for another two or three or four hours wrestling with these other guys who were also going training for that tournament. And on average, I was averaging about seven hours a day of training between lifting, running, and wrestling every single day for that two-month period of time. And I had like, in my mind, I had something to prove to myself. I had something to prove to the world, but I killed myself every single day for those two

months to prepare myself for the tournament. Now, when I got to the tournament, I saw the brackets. I'm like, there's 68 state champs. Most of them had won two, some of them won three, three times they'd won state tournament in their states. And because I hadn't won it my senior year, I was like the lowest seed. Like nobody thought I was going to win. I think I had it my senior year, I was like the lowest seed. Nobody thought I was going to win. I think I had like of 68 people, I was probably seeded, I don't know, 60 or something like that. Like I did not get a good seed. No one thought I was going to win. And looking back on it, if I would have won my state tournament my senior year,

I probably wouldn't have done very good at this tournament because I wouldn't have trained the way I trained. I wouldn't have had the, the, I wouldn't have had to work as hard as I did had I had won that match. And so because I lost, I put in all this extra effort and time and energy to prove that I was good enough. And I went there and you know, one of the worst seeds in the tournament and I ended up beating like the number one seed was a two-time California state champ, which if you know anything about California, it's one of the toughest seeds in the tournament and i ended up beating like the number one seed was a two-time california state champ which if you know anything about california it's one of the toughest states in the country typically and and i beat them and then him that'd be a three-time state champ from north dakota and then be a two-time state champ from the next place the next place and i and i went through this tournament and it's interesting like i always heard athletes i've heard people like in baseball and stuff so you know like when i'm in the zone like someone pitches a ball

even 105 miles an hour it still looks like it's coming slow at me. I remember that tournament feeling that way. I was like, when I stepped on the mat, like I felt like everything was happening in slow motion. Like my moves were just crisp, like sloppy things I'd done during the high school season. Um, I didn't do anymore because I had trained so hard over that two month period of time to not do those things and have my hips in the right position and have, you know, all the things correct. And, um, and, uh, and the matches just, everything seemed easier. And like these people who, you know, two months earlier would have destroyed me. I was just playing with them and, and of all the matches, all the terms, everything I've done, that was my

turn. That was the best term I've ever wrestled. Went all the way through, pinned my guy in the semifinals, qualified for the nationals or for the finals. And then the finals ended up losing by two points in a controversial match. I still think I won, but that's a story for another day. But I took second place in the nation. I became an all American because of that, it opened up all these different doors because of that. Um, my, um, you know, prior to that, I wasn't recruited by any Division I schools. I was recruited by some junior colleges and NAIA schools and D2 and D3 schools. And I was like, I want to go Division I or I don't even want to wrestle.

And after I qualified for the finals, all the coaches from all of the colleges were there. So I'm getting calls from basically everyone, like the Boiseise state coach, Arizona state coach, Iowa state coach, the BYU coach, like all these different coaches, they all wanted me to come wrestle for him. And I was like, Oh my gosh, this is, this is a huge change from what it was earlier. In fact, it's kind of funny because my parents wanted me to go to BYU. I always wanted to go to BYU, but, um, prior to, to me going to this tournament, I'd actually applied to go to BYU and BYU had to have like a, you had to be really, really smart. And I, I was not very good in school. And so, um, you know, I got my, my rejection letter back, like, sorry, we looked at your resume, but you are dumb. So

you're not allowed into the school. Right. They said a little nicer than that, but not much. And so I remember I was walking to the national finals and I saw the BYU assistant coach and he came over and was like, Hey, I want to introduce myself to you. And he said, we'd love to have you come and wrestle BYU. And I was like, Oh, I'm sorry. I applied. And I got, I got rejected and he kind of started laughing and he was like, don't worry, we'll take care of that. And a week later I got home. There's a new letter that showed up and said, Hey, we reevaluated your applications and congratulations. You've been accepted to BYU, which is so funny. So I ended up going to BYU and I wrestled there. And then I went

on a mission for my church for two years. And then I came home and BYU had dropped their program while I was gone. So I transferred to Boise State. Boise State, I met my beautiful wife, Colette. Here's where I started my business. I found my business partners, my friends. And like everything good in my life happened because I ended up here in Boise, in the spot on earth that I needed to be to find the people that I needed

to become who I've become today. And as I was telling the story to the kids tonight, I said, you know what? Had I not lost that match, the match that meant everything to me, the match that I thought for sure I was going to win, that put me in, literally gave me the worst day of my life. Had I not lost that match, I wouldn't have trained the way I had to train for the national tournament. I wouldn't have been an All-American. I wouldn't have taken second place in the country. I wouldn't have gotten college scholarships. I wouldn't have ended up at Boise State. I wouldn't have met my wife. I wouldn't have had U of S kids. I wouldn't have met my business partners. I wouldn't have been in the situation, the fertile ground I needed to be in to get the ideas,

everything I needed to become who I've become today, right? To be able to be in a spot where all of a sudden marketing became interesting to me so much so that I became obsessed with it. You know, I had to have different friend groups, different people, different experiences, like all those things happened because I lost that match. And I remember sitting there after I lost the match and just thinking like, this was the end of my life. Like I'm depressed, I'm miserable. I just want to die. I want to disappear off the face of the earth. Everything I worked for my entire life just got ripped out of my hands.

And, you know, I was mad at myself. I was mad at God. I was mad at everything. And what I didn't realize was had he have answered my prayers and had I have won that match, everything good in my life would not be here today. And I started thinking about that.

I was like, man, it's always hard in the moment to understand the lesson and the trial that God is giving us. Right. But then, you know, fast forward now 20 years, looking back, it becomes so clear and you're like, oh my gosh, that was like the chain reaction that I needed to get me to be here today. Um, and looking back now, I'm so, so grateful that I lost that match. So grateful that it forced me to, to become better and forced me to do different things and forced me to become who I am today. And so for any of you guys who are listening to this, I want to share this because I remember hearing Tony Robbins say one time, he said, you know, a lot of times when people are passing away and they're on their deathbed and they're being interviewed and, and they're asked about they're asked about tough times in their life, most of them reflect back on the hardest moment

or the worst time or the worst situation that happened in their life. And they realize that because of that, everything great happened. And I'm saying this because some of you guys right now are probably in that moment, right? You're in the darkest hour and you're just like, why am I here? Why am I even doing this? Why was that taken away from me? That doesn't make any sense. Why was that piece? Why was that person? Why was that experience? Why was whatever it is you're going through? Why was that taken from me? Right. And it justifiably so like you can be angry, but what you don't understand is what I didn't understand is that that was such a key component, like a key thing. Like had I not

shifted, had I not lost that match, had not gone through that dark moment of my life, it wouldn't have put me on the path I needed to be on to be where I am today. And so if you do believe in a God, and if you do believe in prayers, and if you do believe in destiny, and you do believe in whatever you want to believe in, understand that like, um, a lot of times you're going to lose some of these battles. Um, but you're going to win the war as long as you keep moving forward and you keep doing it. And so, um, hoping this helps someone, someone who's going through depression or going through loss or going through something that just doesn't make sense and you're angry and you're upset, um, from someone now who, who's able to look backwards in time and see that as a blessing, I just hope that gives you hope that whatever you're going through now could be a blessing for you as well.

And when you're in the middle of it, it's hard to see. It's so hard to see. I remember. I didn't want – I just – and I'm sure there's going to be more times in my life that happens, right? The big time my business crashed, went from a hundred employees had to like fire 80 people overnight and lost everything. Like had that not have happened, click funnels wouldn't have happened. Right.

And in the future, who knows what happens? Click funnels might crash or something else might happen. And like, who knows like what I'm supposed to learn from that? Where am I supposed to go? Who am I supposed to become? How am I supposed to serve? Like, what's the, what's the next thing? We don't know the answers to those things, but we have to have faith that there is a process and a

purpose in what we're doing. Otherwise it can get really dark and scary. But if you realize, man, I don't understand it. I don't, I don't know why, but I trust that there's a purpose. Um, it can give you the hope you need to keep moving on. But the last thing I want to say is just, you know, the, the other moral of the story is like when I lost it wasn't like I stopped it was like okay I need to readjust my goals and then I need to double down right I think sometimes we get depressed or dark states and we just kind of walk away it's like no no no that's not the listen to the whole story the whole story was we lost went through a phase of depression and then said, this is the new goal.

This is how I'm going to redeem myself. Go. And then I went and I ran as fast as I could till my fingers bled, till my feet were sore, everything I needed to do and gave it a hundred percent because that's what was required for me to become the person I needed to be to win that tournament, right? To, to become an all American. I couldn't have done it two months earlier. I would have lost, but because I went through that, I was good enough. I became who I needed to be to get that part of the, that piece of the goal, right? To get that next achievement,

right? When my old company crashed and everything fell to the wayside, probably my second darkest moment in my life. Um, it was also the necessary things I had to learn how to go through to be able to come who, to become who I was, to be able to handle the mantle of what ClickFunnels is. Okay. If anyone thinks ClickFunnels is easy to run and to be part of it is not, it is insane amounts of work. Um, and had Russell from 10 years ago, if he would have been handed this mantle, it would have crushed him.

Um, but because of these experiences and the, the, all the things that I had to figure out and learn and, and, and grow through, it's what's given me the ability to, to be able to, to handle this right now, at least as well as I'm doing my best. Some of you guys may think that Russell, you're not doing that given job. I'm doing my best. I can. So back off. But, um, anyway, so I hope that helps.

I hope to help somebody. I don't know. I just felt inspired tonight to share that. Um, and I hope that helps one of you guys out there in the moment of darkness you may be in. So just keep moving forward. Don't give up. If I could go back 20 years to Russell on that night that I lost and come to that came in, I know right now this sucks and it's painful and you just want to disappear. And I understand that. But in 20 years from now, you're gonna look back at this

moment as the turning point of your life. Because you lost tonight, everything good that happens to you will happen. And so someday you will be so grateful that this experience happened. And hopefully you guys can remember that. All right. That said, I'm going to go get my kids into bed. Appreciate y'all. Thanks for listening. And we'll talk to you guys can remember that. All right, that said, I'm going to go get my kids into bed. Appreciate y'all. Thanks for listening. And we'll talk to you guys all soon. Would you like to see behind the scenes of what we're actually doing each day to grow our company? If so, then go subscribe to our free behind the scenes reality TV show

at www.funnelhacker.tv.