The Russell Brunson Show - ClickFunnels Startup Story - Part 1 of 4

Episode Date: February 20, 2019

Listen in as Andrew Warner from Mixergy interviews Russell on the ClickFunnels startup story! On today's episode you will hear part 1 of 4 of Russell's interview with Andrew Warner about the Clickfunnels start up story. Here are some of the awesome things you will hear in this part of the story: Find out how and why Russell got started with online marketing in the first place. Hear from Collette why she didn't consider Russell a loser, even though he had no job and she was working 2 jobs to support him. And see how after Russell's company had reached over 100 employees, the whole thing came crashing down. So listen here to hear the beginnings of Russell's role as entrepreneur, and how he has been able to overcome many of the obstacles thrown his way. Transcript - https://marketingsecrets.com/blog/182-clickfunnels-startup-story-part-1-of-4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With TD Direct Investing, new and existing clients could get 1% cash back. Great! That's 1% closer to being part of the 1%. Maybe, but definitely 100% closer to getting 1% cash back with TD Direct Investing. Conditions apply. Offer ends January 31, 2025. Visit td.com slash DI offer to learn more. Good morning, everybody. This is Russell Brunson. We're welcoming you back to the Marketing Seekers podcast. And you guys are in for a very special treat over the next four episodes. My guess is I'm going to be at Fun Hiking Live when you're listening to these. And so I wanted to preload you out with some amazingness. And so let me give you some context of what's going to happen and why

you should be so excited. All right. So my favorite podcast, other than mine, of course, that all of you guys should be subscribed to is called Mixergy. And Andrew Warner is the guy who runs Mixergy podcast. And I love that podcast because of Andrew. Like he is my favorite interviewer. If you look at how a lot of people do interview podcasts, they ask questions and they're, I don't know. I've suffered from this in the past as well. I'm not a good interviewer, at least not now.

I'd like to learn how to do that skill, but I'm not a great interviewer. And most people who do podcasts with interviews aren't great interviewers. But Andrew's the best interviewer I've ever seen. The way he asks questions, how deep he goes and like, and, and the research he does before the interviews and all sorts of stuff. And so, um, anyway, I just, I love his style.

I love how he does it. And so, um, what's cool is, um, I've actually been on the show twice in the past and the first time, or no, sorry, the second time he totally caught me off guard. Like he, remember he asked me some questions I didn't really know. And I responded and, uh, and he told me after, or told me like live on the interview, he totally caught me off guard. Like he, remember he asked me some questions I didn't really know. And I responded and, uh, and he told me after, or told me like live on the interview, he doesn't edit his interviews. He was like, well, that was the worst answer you've ever given. And I was like, Oh, thanks. Anyway, it was, it was just totally caught me off guard, but it was cool the way that he was just like, kind of holds your feet to the fire. And so a little while ago,

I thought, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to tell the ClickFunnels startup story. And so, um, uh, but I didn't want to be just me just tell, I wanted someone who would like, who would, who would tell from different angle and like ask the questions that, that I think people want to know and, and, and do it in a really cool way. And so I called Andrew, I was like, Hey, I'm wanting to do this thing and I want to do an event around it. Would you be interested? And he was like, he luckily said yes. And so it's funny, Andrew's famous. I think I might talk about this in the interview too, but he's famous for these scotch nights he does. And as a Mormon, I don't drink.

So I can't, you know, I can't go to scotch nights. And so when we planned this interview, we planned it in Provo, Utah. It's a place called the Dry Bar Comedy Club. So a dry bar is a bar with no alcohol. And so it was kind of a funny thing where we brought, you know, that those two things, my world and his world together to this one spot, to a dry bar and told the ClickFunnels startup story. And it was cool. Ahead of time, he did so much research.

He interviewed people who loved me, people who hated me. He interviewed, um, you know, our old business partners who are no longer a part of the business. He did everything. And then he came in and I told him, I was like, everything's, you can ask me any question you want. Nothing off, nothing, no holds barred. Feel free to do whatever you want. And so we did the interview. And it was about two hours long. And I loved it.

I think it turned out amazing. And I hope you guys like it too. So I'll tell you some of the details about the ClickFunnels startup story, like how we built what we did, what happened, the ups, the downs, the negatives, the positives. He brings a couple other people on stage to tell their parts of the story. And anyway, I really hope you enjoy it. So what we're going to do is I'm going to have each episode over the next four episodes be about 30 minutes long so you can listen to them in pieces.

And I hope you enjoy them. I hope you love them. If you do, please, please, please take a screenshot of your phone where you're listening to it and go post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me, um, and then do hashtag marketing secrets. And hopefully I'll get more people to listen to the podcast. And then please, if you haven't yet go rate and review, which is amazing. So that said, I'm going to queue up the theme song and we come back. We'll start immediately into part one of four of the dry bar comedy club interview. So the big question is this, how are entrepreneurs like us who didn't cheat and take on venture capital, we're 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. Click funnels has changed a lot of our lives. We all have an origin story. Mine was something similar to I set up my website on GoDaddy and things were going great. And then Dave Woodward's like, dude, you need ClickFunnels. I'm like, I don't need a ClickFunnel. I don't even know what a ClickFunnel is.

He's like, no, seriously, man, this is going to totally change your business. I'm like, bro, I have GoDaddy. They have a commercial on the Super Bowl. ClickFunnels doesn't. But when they do, I'll do it. Well, boy, was I wrong. I changed over and it absolutely changed our business and changed our lives. So thank you for that, Dave. But here's the thing. In every industry, there's somebody that comes along that really disrupts the industry, that really changes it, and that really does something amazing for that industry. And as we all, while we're here, we know that that person is Russell Brunson. And he has changed a lot of our lives. So before I bring him up here, they have asked me to ask you to make sure that you don't do any live recording of this next interview.

Because the gloves are coming off, and they want to be able to present to the world. You can do little Instagram clips, if you'd like, like 15-second ones, and tag them. My understanding is the best hashtag and the best clip gets a date with Drew. I don't know. That's just what they told me. So blame them. But with that, again, no videoing and let us just absolutely take the roof off this place as we bring up our beloved Russell Brunson. Give it up, guys.

All right. Well, thanks for coming, you guys. This is so cool. And I'm excited to be here. So a couple of real quick things before we get started. For all of you guys, you know, who came to be part of this, we had you all donate a little bit money towards Operation Underground Railroad. And I'm really excited because Melanie told me right before I got here kind of the total of how much money we raised from this little event for them. So I think the final number was a little over $13,000 was raised for Operation Underground Railroad. So thank you guys for your continued support with them. Just put that in perspective.

That's enough money to save about five children from sex slavery. So it is a big deal, and it's a life-changing thing, and so it's pretty special. So grateful for you guys for donating money to come here, and hope you had a good time so far. It's been fun. Okay? I really want to tuck my shirt in now.

I'm feeling kind of awkward. No, it's been awesome. Okay, so I want to introduce the person who's going to be doing the interview tonight. It's someone I'm really excited to have here. In fact, I met him for the first time like an hour ago in person. But I want to tell kind of the reason why I wanted him to do this and why we're all here. And I'm grateful he said yes and was willing to come out here and kind of do this. So Andrew runs a podcast called Mixergy.

How many guys in here are Mixergy listeners? All right. Mixergy is my favorite guys in here are Mixergy listeners? All right. Mixergy is my favorite podcast. I love it. He's interviewed thousands of people about their startup stories and about how they started their businesses. And it's really cool because he brings these entrepreneurs and he tells, gets them to tell their stories. But what's unique about what Andrew does that's fascinating is the way he interviews people is completely different. It's unique. I listened to a lot of podcasts and I don't like a lot of interview shows. A lot of them are just kind of high level. Everyone you listen to with Andrew, he gets really, really deep.

The other fun thing is he doesn't edit his interviews. And so there's one interview, I'll tease him about this right now, but I was listening to it in my, on my headphones and him and the, the, the guests got kind of an argument and a fight and then just ended. And then they aired it. And I was like, I can't believe you aired that. It was amazing. And then I was on his podcast a little while later and he asked me some questions I couldn't quite understand perfectly. So I was trying to respond the best I could and then kind of like fumble through it. And instead of letting me off the hook, his response was, man, Russell, that was probably the worst answer I've ever heard you give in any interview ever. And I was like, oh my gosh. And so I'm excited for that because I told him

there's like no holds barred. He can ask me anything he wants about the ups of ClickFunnels, the downs of ClickFunnels, and anything else. And it's going to be a lot of fun. So I'm excited to have me here. I think my mic is right over here. Thank you, everyone. Thanks, Russell, for having me here. Most people will contact me after I interview them and say, could you please not air the interview? And you actually had me back here to do it in person.

And you were so nice. You even got us this room here. Check this out. They set us up. They're so nice at ClickFunnels. They said, Andrew, you're staying here. We're going to put you and your family up the night before in a room. My wife was so good. Look, that's her journaling. My kids were playing around, sleeping in the same, like sleeping together, enjoying themselves. And then I went to call somebody who was basically let go from ClickFunnels. And my wife goes, Andrew, why do you have to do that? That's not why they invited you here. And I said, I do know Russell. I know the team.

They actually did invite me to really help get to the story of how ClickFunnels started, how it built up. And the reason that I was up calling people, understanding the stories, because I want to make it meaningful for you. I've talked to a lot of you as you were coming in here. You want to know how they got here, what worked for ClickFunnels, what would work for us. And so that's my goal here, to spend the time understanding by interviewing you about how you did it. And so I want to go way back to a guy that a few of you might recognize, and I know you would, and ask you, what drew you to this guy when you were younger? Don LaPree.

One tiny classified ad that just made 30 to $40 profit in a week. And to realize that you could now take that same exact ad and place it in up to 3000 other newspapers around the country. I'm having nostalgia right now. Okay. So this is the story on that. So I was, I don't know, 12, 13 years old, something like that. And, um, I was watching the news with my dad and usually he's like, go to bed, Russell. And he didn't that night. And then the news got over. I think he thought I was asleep. And then mash came on. And so mash started playing and then it got over. Then this infomercial showed up and I'm laying there on the couch, like

watching Don the pre talk about tiny classified ads. I was totally freaking out. And I jumped up and I begged my dad to buy it. And he said, no. And I was like, are you kidding? Did you not listen to what he said? Did you guys just hear that? That was a good pitch, huh? It's really good. I love a good pitch.

It is so good. And so I went and asked my dad if I could earn the money. So I went and mowed lawns. And then I earned the money to order the kit. And I still have the original books to this day. Whoa. Oh, you disappointed? I bought it too. It was the dream of being able to... That's why I like you so much. That's amazing. And it was just, all he sent you was a bunch of paper guides to how to buy ads, right?

Were you disappointed when you got that? No, I was excited. I think for me, because the vision was cast, it was like, he just said right there, it worked for him. He's like, you made $40 a newspaper. And if you're disappointed, but you put that same ad in 3000 newspapers, imagine that. And so I had the vision of that. I think the only thing I was disappointed in is like, didn't have any money to actually buy an ad. And that was more like, I don't, I can't actually do it now. You are a champion wrestler and then you got married. Is your wife here? My beautiful wife right here, Colette. Hey, Colette. And your dad had a conversation with

you about money. What did he say? Um, so at that point, um, my dad had supported me and I figured he would the rest of my life. I think, I don't know. Um, so I was 21, almost 22 at this time. Cause I was wrestling. So I didn't have, I couldn't get a job. So I was wrestling all the time. And I met Colette, fell in love with her. And then I called my parents. I was like, Hey, I'm going to marry her. I'm going to propose to her and everything expecting them to be like, sweet. That'll be awesome. And my mom was all excited. I'm not going to lie. But then my dad was like, well, if just, you know, like if you get married, like, like you have to be a man now, like you have to support yourself. And I was like, but I, I don't know how to do that. I'm not going to lie. But then my dad was like, well, if just, you know, like if you get married, like, like you have to be a man now, like you have to support yourself. And I was like,

but I, I don't know how to do that. I'm wrestling. And he's like, well, I'm not going to keep paying for you to do it. I'm like, but I'm like literally got the ring. I have to like, I can't not propose now. And that was kind of the, the, the thing. And so it was interesting because about that time, uh, there was a, another infomercial. There's the pattern. I can't remember exactly the name of the company, but they were doing an event at the local Holiday Inn that was like, hey, you're going to build websites and make money. And it was like the night or day or two days after I told my dad this, and he was like, you're in trouble. And I saw that. I was like, there's the answer.

So I'm at Holiday Inn like two days later, sitting in the room, hearing the pitch, signing up for stuff I shouldn't have bought. There's the answer. So I might holiday in like two days later, sitting in the room, hearing the pitch, signing up for stuff I shouldn't have bought. There's the pattern. Did you feel like a loser getting married at 22 and still counting on your dad for money? Did you feel like you were marrying a loser? Actually, this is a sad story. So because she actually, so when my roommate at the time, she actually asked him, she's like, do you think he's going to be able to support me in the future? And he was like, yeah, I think so. I'm like, I didn't know this till later. I don't know if I felt like a loser, but I definitely was nervous. Like, I'm like,

oh my gosh. Cause like my whole identity to them at that point in my life was I was a wrestler. And like, if that was to disappear, like I couldn't have that disappear. And so I'm like oh my gosh because like my whole identity to them at that point my life was I was a wrestler and like if that was to disappear like I couldn't have that disappear and so I was like I have to figure out something there's gotta be some way for me to do both um to do both what to be a wrestler and make money from some infomercial well I know that was gonna be the path but yeah no but to be able to knew that you were gonna do something what do you think that was going to be? I wasn't sure. When I went to the event, they were selling these timeshare books, and you could buy resale rights to them.

And so I was like, oh. And I remember back, because I remember the Don the Priest stuff, right? I was like, maybe I could buy classified ads and sell these things. And then I was at the event, and then they're talking about websites. And that was the first thing I heard about websites. And they're talking about Google and all the beginnings of this whole internet thing right and so i was like i could do that it was making it made all logical sense to me um but i just didn't know how you know i didn't know how to do it i just knew that like that was going to be the only path because if i had to get a job i wouldn't be able to wrestle so i was like i have to figure out

something that's not that's not going to be a 40 hour thing because i'm spending that time wrestling and going to school so i had to figure out the best of how to do both. And you obviously found it. My goal today is to go through this, the process of finding it, but let me skip ahead a little bit. What is this website? Oh man. All right. All right. Final hackers, listen up. It's 2025. And let me ask you, are your B2B ads actually driving results or are they getting lost in the noise? You and I both know the pain of running campaigns that fall flat because they aren't seen by the right people. But here's the game changer. LinkedIn ads.

LinkedIn isn't just another ad platform. It's the place where professionals live. I'm talking about the decision makers you dream about working with. CEOs, VPs, C-suite powerhouses, 130 million of them all in one place. And LinkedIn gives you the laser sharp targeting to reach them by job title, company, and even industry. Imagine how your business could scale if your message hits the right inboxes every time. Now, here's the kicker. LinkedIn delivers up to five times higher ROAS than other platforms.

Yeah, you heard me right. Five times more return on every ad dollar. And that's because LinkedIn's professional environment is made for people who actually take action. This isn't where people scroll mindlessly. This is where they're making decisions. So stop playing small because it's time to level up. Start converting your B2B audience

into high quality leads today. And to get started, LinkedIn is offering you $100 credit for your next campaign. Go to linkedin.com slash clicks to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com slash clicks. Terms and conditions may apply. LinkedIn is the place to be, to be. Hey, funnel hackers, let me paint you a picture. You're running a business,

your funnel's finally converting like crazy, and suddenly it hits you. You need to hire someone like yesterday. Maybe it's a copywriter to help you crank out more sales pages, or a designer to refresh your landing pages, or someone to do customer support to help you to handle your growing audience. The problem is you're swamped, and you don't have weeks to shift through resumes. So what do you do? You turn to Indeed. When it comes to hiring, Indeed is all that you need. They make it fast, simple, and super effective. Stop struggling to get your job seen on those other job sites that bury your listing. With Indeed's sponsored jobs, your post jumps straight to the top of the page so that the right candidates see it first. It's

just like pulling your job out on a billboard for the exact person you need to hire. And it works. Sponsored jobs on Indeed get 45% more application than non-sponsored jobs. Now here's the best part. With Indeed, there's no monthly subscription, no long-term contracts. You only pay for results. And let me tell you how fast this platform is. Literally in the time that we've been talking right now, 23 people have been hired on Indeed worldwide. Imagine finding your dream hire while your competitors are still waiting through job boards and job boards that don't deliver. So here's what you need to do right now. Go to indeed.com slash clicks right now and get a $75 sponsored job credit board to boost

your post visibility. That's indeed.com slash clicks. Support the show, save time and find your next hire faster. Remember when it comes to hiring, indeed, it's all that you need. This, um, this is actually, so the backstory behind this is, um, there was a guy named Vince James who wrote a book called the 12 month millionaire. And if anyone's got that book, it's, it's fat, like a phone book. It's a huge book. And I read it and I was like, this book's amazing. And at the time I was an affiliate marketer,

so I had a little bit, I like maybe a thousand people on my list. So I called Vince. I was like, Hey, can I interview you about the book? And then I'll use that as a tool to sell more copies of your book. And he was like, sure. And so he jumped on the phone with me and, um, on a Saturday and he spent three hours interviewing, uh, letting me interview any questions I had. And I got to the end of it and I still had like a ton of questions. He's like, we'll come back next. We can do it again. So I interviewed him for six hours about it. And then, uh, we use that to sell some copies of his book. And then it just sat there probably for two or three years as I was trying different ideas and for businesses and things like that. But every time I would talk to people, I tell them about this interview. I'm like, I'm

gonna interview this guy who made a hundred million dollars through direct mail. And, uh, and everyone was like, wanted to hear the interview ever asked me for it. So one day I was like, let's just make that, let's make that the product we put up here and this was the very first um funnel we ever had that did over a million dollars my first tomb comic club funnel a million dollars do you remember what that felt like it was amazing because uh um it was funny back then because there were people there were a few people who were like making a lot of money online that i was watching and just like idolizing everything i was trying to model what they were doing um and i'd had like little wins, like, you know, $10,000 here, $15,000 here.

But this was the first, by far the first one that just like, that just hit that everyone was so excited to hear. How'd you celebrate? I don't even remember how we celebrated. Wow. Yeah. Married a winner after all.

I really, what, do you remember what you guys did to celebrate? No, I don't remember do you it was on my list that's a good question come up oh that list is going to come up in a second you ended up creating click funnels how much revenue are you guys doing now 2018 uh 2018 we'll pass over 100 million dollars this year. $100 million. Wow. We. Yeah. How far have you come? When did we start?

Today, revenue as of today, October 2018. Oh, this year? Yeah. Oh, from the beginning of time until now. No, no. I mean, I want to know, like, you're going to do $100 million. Are you at 10 and you're hoping to? These guys know better than me. Do you know exactly where we're at right now? $, you're going to do $100 million. Are you a 10 and you're hoping to get it? These guys know better than me.

Do you know exactly where we're at right now? 83 million for the year. I love that Dave knows that, right? So I want to know how you got to that from, I went through your site. Pages and pages. It looked like this. It's like long form sales letters. I asked my assistant to take pictures.

She said, this is, I can't do it. It's too many. Look at this, guys. I asked him to help me, like, figure out what he did. He created this list. This is not's too many. Look at this, guys. I asked him to help me figure out what he did. He created this list. This is not the full list. Look at this. Every blue line is him finding an old archive of a page that he created. It goes on and on like this. How long did it take you to put that together? It's probably five or six hours just to find all the pages. Five or six hours you spent to find these images to help me tell the story and years and

years of doing this a lot of failure what amazes me is you didn't feel jaded and let down after don lapree sold you that stuff you didn't feel jaded and let down and said this whole make money thing is a failure after and we're going to talk about some of your failures you just kept going with that same smile the same like eagerness. All right. Let's start with the very first business. What's this one? This is called.

Sublime Net. How many of you guys remember Sublime Net out there? You guys remember this? Anyone remember it? You do. John does. John. So actually this is, so this is the first business, but the first website I bought,

I was so proud of it. And I spent like, I don know i wanted to create i want to sell software and so i was like what could i name my company and so i figured out exciting software so i want to buy excitewear.com but it wasn't for sale and so i bought excitewear.net and colette was working at the time and she came home and i was so excited like we got our first website we're gonna be rich and i told her the name i was like exciteware.net and she looked at me with this look like she's like are we are you selling underwear or what is the i was like lingerie i'm like i'm like you know it's it's software and then she's like you i'm not gonna tell my mom that you bought that like you gotta think of another name and i was like crap and so that was the next best name i came up with was sublime net i feel like the band sublime and i was gonna ask you what it was but it was lots of different things every screenshot on I came up with was SublimeNet. I like the band Sublime.

And I was going to ask you what it was, but it was lots of different things. Every screenshot on there is a whole other business under the same name. What are the businesses? Do you remember? There was website hosting. There's affiliate sites. There were, I can't remember now.

I'm trying to remember. Lots of different things. How did it do? How well did it do? Oh, never anything. Very little. Like maybe, I remember the first thing I ever sold was an it was an affiliate product i sold uh i made 20 bucks on it through my paypal account because i remember that night i do remember i celebrated we went out to dinner

and had a paypal credit card and then we bought dinner with 20 bucks and then the guy refunded like the next day oh so sad but i was proud that i had made money how'd you support yourself while this was not working? I didn't, so my beautiful wife did. She had two jobs at the time to support me while I was wrestling and doing these things, and she was the one that made it possible to be able to gamble and risk and try crazy things. Can I put you on the spot and ask you to just come over here

and just tell me about this period and what you felt at the time. I know that you don't love being on stage. Russell is good with it, but I know that you don't love it. If you don't mind, I'm just going to go with one more story, and then I'll come back to you. You cool with it? Good. She seems a little nervous.

Actually, wait, let's see if we can get her right now. Oh, you are? Okay. Everyone, this is Colette, my beautiful wife. Do you want to use his mic? Sure. She's so mad at me right now. I wanted to come to this. Who knew? He's so proud that he had no venture funding.

But you are like his first investor. That's true. Yes. I'll be his first investor. Can you hold the mic a little closer? How did you know he wasn't a loser? No job. He's wrestling.

He's buying infomercial stuff that doesn't go anywhere. Like, we know he did well, so we're not insulting him now. But what did you see in him back then that let you say, I'm going to work extra hard and pay for what he's not doing? What did I see in him? It was actually his energy, his spirit. And because I'm not going to lie, it was kind of not love at first sight. We had, we were geekos, you know what I mean? Just shopped at the Goodwill and in baggy pants and t-shirts and, you know, I don't know. It was, but it was the person who, yeah, just was always positive and we had the same goals. That's the thing I noticed too, the positivity.

When these businesses fail, we're showing a few on the screen. It's easy to look back and go, ha ha, I did this and it was interesting. But at the time, what was the bounce back like when things didn't work out? When the world basically said, you know what, as salespeople, when they don't buy you, when they don't buy your stuff, it's like they don't buy you. When the world basically said, we don't like you. We don't like what you've created. What was the bounce back like? Hard?

No, because I come from a hardworking family. And so I work hard. And so you just work hard to make it work. And it's just an eternal optimist and you're an eternal optimist too. Like genuinely, really. Yeah. Okay. I guess.

It works. His dad said no more money. You had to cut up your credit cards too. Yeah. What was, how did you cut up your credit cards? What was that day like? Hard. Yeah.

Hard because I, those that you don't know that know that I'm a little bit older than Russell. And so I've always had this independency to go do and buy and do these things. And then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, step back, sister. I'm going to take care of this young man so we can get to where we're at. Anyway, but now, yeah. Now things are good. Now things are amazing. All right.

Give her a big round of applause. Thanks for coming up here. These businesses did okay. And then you started something that I never heard about. But look at this. I'm going to zoom in on a section of the Google Doc you sent me. This is the call center. The call center got to how many employees, 100?

We had about 60 full-time salespeople, 20 full-time coaches, about 20 people doing the marketing. So it's about 100 people in the whole company. A hundred people doing what kind of call center, what kind of work? So what we would do is we would sell free CDs and things like that online, free CDs, free books, free whatever. And then if someone would buy it, we'd call them on the phone, um, we'd sell free CDs and things like that online, free CDs, free books, free, whatever. And then if someone would buy it, we'd call them on the phone and then we'd offer them high end coaching. Okay. And this was you getting customers. How?

Um, man, back then it was pre Facebook. So a lot of it was Google. It was email lists. It was, um, anything we could figure out to drive traffic, all sorts of weird stuff. And then people come in, get a free CD, sign up for coaching, and then you had to hire people and teach them how to coach. Yeah. That was hard. The first, when we first started doing it, um, I was just doing the coachings, people come in and we, we had a little, uh, and Brent's me, he doesn't remember the little offices we had and we'd bring people in and, you know, we were so proud of our little office. They come in and we teach them for two or three days, teach an event for them. Um, and then it's got bigger. It's harder and harder

for me to do that. And then, um, so eventually, and a lot of people don't want to come to Boise, like I love Boise, but it's really hard to get to. So people would sign up for coaching and then they'd never show up to Boise. And then, you know, a year later they want their money back. Right. So if we have to do something where they're getting, they're getting fulfilled, whether they showed up to Boise or not. So we started in the phone coaching and at first it was me and then it was me and a couple other people. And then we started training more coaches and, um, and that's how it kind of started. And it was one of those things though, like at first it was me and then it was me and a couple other people. And then we started training more coaches and, um, and that's how it kind of started. And it was one of those things though, like at first it was just, it was just like five

or six of us just in a room doing it and it worked. And so then the next logic thing is like, well, we should go from five people to 10 to 20. And like, next thing you know, we wake up with a hundred people. We're like, what are we doing? Like we're little kids. Like it scares me that I'm in charge of all these people's livelihood, but that's what, you know, that's kind of where it was at.

And it got kind of scary for me. You know, sometimes I wonder if I'm hiding behind interviewing because I'm afraid to stand up and say, here's what I want. Here's what I think we need to do. Here's how the world should be. And so I'm amazed that even back then, after having a few businesses that didn't really work out, you were comfortable enough to say, come to my office. I'm going to teach you. I've got it figured out when you hadn't. How did you get yourself comfortable and what made you feel comfortable about being able to say, I can teach these people who come to my office, who call up, who then become my coaches, who then have to teach other people? I think, you know, for me, it's like when I first started learning the online stuff and entrepreneurship, like I think most people feel this. I get so exciting.

You want to tell everybody about it, right? And so I'm telling my friends, my family, and nobody cares at first. And you're like, I need to, I have to share this gift. I figured out like, it's amazing. Nobody cares. And then like the first time somebody cares and you want, and then you just like dump on him, you want to show it to him. And so I had made tons of money, but I had a lot of these little websites that had done, you know, 30 grand, 50 grand, a hundred grand. And so, and so for me, it was like, if I can show these people, like, I know what that did for me. It gave me the spark to like, do you want to do the next one, the next one. And, and so for me it was like if i can show these people like i know what that did for me it gave me the spark to like want to do the next one the next one and and so for me it was

really just like i want to share this because like i feel like i figured it out and so that was the thing we were coming in and we're teaching people how to build 100 million dollar companies but we're like hey you can quit your job like you make two or three thousand dollars a month you quit your job and this is how i did it this is the the process and so that's what we were showing people is just you know the foundation how we did it and just kind of reach we showed other people because they cared and it was exciting to to share with other people is whit, you know, the foundation of how we did it. And it's kind of reached, we showed other people because they cared and it was exciting to share with other people. Is Whitney here?

There she is. Whitney. I met her as, as she was coming in. I wanted to get to know why people are coming to watch this, what they wanted to hear from you. And Whitney was asking about like the difficult periods, the why I'm wondering the same thing that she and I were talking about, which is why put yourself through this? You could have gotten a job.

You could have done okay. Why put yourself through the risk of hiring people, the eventual, as we see, closing of the company? What was your motivation? What was the goal? Hey, Funnel Hackers, let's be real. How many of you have forgotten about subscriptions and you keep paying for these things month after month after month?

That was my wife and I before Rocket Money came along. Literally a couple months ago, we downloaded this app and within minutes, we found out a whole bunch of subscriptions. In fact, we had multiple Hulu payments, multiple Disney payments from accounts that my wife had set up and I had set up and we weren't even using one of them. It was crazy. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you to find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Rocket Money showed us where all of our subscriptions were in one place. In fact, it was crazy how many recurring payments we had that we had completely forgotten about.

With just a couple of clicks, Rocket Money canceled the ones we didn't need. And the best part is they even monitor unusual spending activity and they alert us if our bills increase. So I'm always in the loop. Rocket Money has over 5 million users, including my wife and I, and has saved a total of over $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 per year when using all of the app's premium features. In fact, my wife and I, we literally saved over $1,000 a month when we started using Rocket app. Now their dashboard is amazing and you get a clear view of all your expenses across every account you have. You can even create a personalized budget with custom categories

and track your monthly spending trends to stay on top of your goals. You want to save for that dream vacation or pay off some debt? Their new goals feature automatically saves money for you so you don't even have to think about it. So cancel all your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to rocketmoney.com slash Russell today. That's rocketmoney.com slash R-U-S-S-E-L-L. That's rocketmoney.com slash Russell. Hey, funnel hackers.

I want to talk about building your business. You've got the idea, the passion, the drive, but here's the thing. Setting up the legal stuff can feel like a total roadblock. That's why you need Northwest registered agent. They're like the dream team for business formation, which is 10 clicks in 10 minutes. You can build your entire business identity. I'm talking about formation paperwork, a real business address, premium mail forwarding, and even a local phone number so you can keep your home address private and stay safe. And it doesn't stop there. Northwest is your one-stop shop for business owners. They've been doing this for nearly 30 years, and they've got the expertise to back it up.

From trademark registration to custom domains, Northwest does it all, and they do it right. You get more when you start your business with Northwest registered agent. Don't wait, protect your privacy, build your brand and set up your business in just 10 clicks in 10 minutes. Head to Northwest registered agent today and start building something amazing. Why did you want to do it? Um, I think it shifts. I think it shifts throughout time, right? Like I think most entrepreneurs, when they first get started, it's cause of money. Like they like, I want i want to make money and then and then you get that and then really quick um that doesn't last very long um and then it's like then for me it was like i want to share other people and then and then when other people get it like there's something about

the aha moment you're like oh my gosh they got it like they got what i was saying and then like that that for me was like the next level like the next high that's just like oh i love that and then um and back then we had some success stories coming through but nowadays it's like the bigger success stories come through and that's what i don't know for me that's what what drives it on like that is the fascinating part it's why we keep because like most software company owners don't keep creating books and courses and like but like when people have the aha that's like oh my gosh that's the best for me that's the thing that you get the high of the

thing that you wanted when you were growing up, that you wanted somebody to show it to you. And if you could then genuinely give it to them, not like Don LaPree, but Don LaPree plus actual results, that's what, that's what fires you up. It does fire me up. That's amazing. What happened? Why did that close down? Oh man, a lot of, a lot of things. A lot of bad mistakes. A lot of first-time growing company stuff that I didn't... Again, we just woke up one day, it felt like, and we were in this huge office, huge overhead. And about that time, it was like 99, 2000, something like that. And there was the merchant account that me and most of the people doing internet marketing at the time, we all used the same merchant account. And they got hit by Visa and MasterCard.

And so they freaked out and they shut down. I think that ended up being like four or 500 merchant accounts overnight. And we had nine different merchant accounts, that company, all of them got shut down instantly. And, um, I remember cause everything was fine. We're going through the day and it was like one o'clock in the afternoon on a Friday, they came in like, Hey, none of the, none of the bill, the cards won't process. And, and I'm like, we couldn't figure out why they weren't processing. And then we tried to call, call the company and no one's answering the company. And finally it's someone on the phone and they said, Oh yeah, you got shut down along with everybody along with all the other scammers. And she hung up on me. And I was like, I don't know what to do right now. Like I've got a hundred

plus people and payroll is not small and we didn't have a ton of cash in the bank. It was just like a, it was more of a cashflow business. And, um, and, uh, Colette actually just left town that night and she was gone. And, um, and, uh, I remember Avatar just came out. So everyone's going to movie Avatar tonight. And I remember sitting there during the longest movie of all time, like, and I didn't, and I don't remember anything other than like the sick feeling in my stomach. And I was like texting everyone, you know, like trying to see like if anyone knew what to do and everyone knew it was like, we got shut down too shut down too we got shut everyone got shut down and like we couldn't figure out anything and and um and so the next we came back the next day i called everyone up and actually kind of a kind of a funny side story

um i just met tony robbins a little prior earlier to this and um so that night i was laying in bed it's like four in the morning and my phone rings and i look at it and it's tony robbins assistant and i pick it up and he's like hey is there any way you can be in Vegas in three hours? There's a plane from, from Boise to Vegas. Tony wants you to speak at this event. It's starting in three hours. Like you need to be on stage in three hours. I'm sitting here like my whole world just collapsed and laying in bed, sick to my stomach. And I was like, I don't think I can, like, I have to figure this thing out. And then, uh, and he tells Tony to come back. He, Tony says, if your business isn't, you know, you you can't make it, don't show up.

You're fine. And so I didn't go. And then next morning I woke up and there was a message on my phone I'd missed. I passed out and woke up. And it was a message from Tony. And he was like, hey, man, I know that you care about your customers. You care about things. And he's like, I don't know the whole situation.

But worst case scenario, if you need help, let me know. And we can absorb you into Robin's research or whatever. And you can be one of my companies. And that way, if you want, we can absorb you into Robbins research or whatever. And you, and you can be one of my companies in that way. Um, if you want, we can protect you. And I heard that and I was like, okay, that's, that's like the worst case scenario is I get to work with Tony Robbins. Like that's the worst case scenario. So then I called up everybody on my team and I was like, okay guys, we got to try to figure out how to save this. And, uh, Brent and John, everyone came back to my house and I was like, okay, what ideas do we got? And we just sat there for the next five or six hours trying to figure stuff out. And then we went to work and, um, and I wish I could say like everything turned around, but it was next probably

man, two or three years of us firing 30 people, firing 20 people, closing things down, moving down offices, like just shrinking, um, for a long, long time until the peak of it was, um, it was about a year after that moment. And we were, um, in Vegas and event trying to figure out how to, how to save stuff. And I got an email from my dad, uh, who was helping with the books at the time. And he said, Hey, I got really bad news for you. I looked through the books and it turns out, um, your assistant who was supposed to be doing payroll taxes, hadn't paid payroll in over a year. It was like, you owe the IRS over a hundred and it's like $70,000. And he's like, and if you don't pay this,

you're probably going to go to jail. And I was like, every penny I'd earned at that point was gone. Everything was done. We lost everything. And I was just like, I don't know how to fight this battle. But if I don't fight it, I go to jail, apparently. And I remember, that's a really crappy feeling. Yeah. And, uh, some of you guys are reliving this with me right now. I know. Um, I remember going back that night and laying in bed

and I was just like, I wish that I had a boss that could fire me. Cause I don't know what to do or how to do it. And that was kinda, that was the, definitely the lowest spot for me. And you stuck with him. Sorry. Wow. Yeah. 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.