The Russell Brunson Show - My Conversation With The Friendly Giant - Part 1 of 2 (Revisited!)

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

Replay of a special conversation I had on stage at a Traffic Secrets event with a friend and a student, Nic Fitzgerald. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ---Transcript--- Hey everyone, this is Russell Brunson and I want to welcome you to the Marketing Secrets podcast. The next two episodes are a really special one. For our Two Comma club X members and our inner circle members I did an event recently, some of you guys heard me talk about it. It was a traffic secrets event, where I’m getting all the material ready for the book. And the night before when I was doing all the prep work I had this thought. I was like, I want to bring up somebody on stage and it’s somebody who was a friend I grew up with in elementary school, and junior high, and high school, someone who was down on their luck, who was really, really struggling. About a year ago I saw him post something on Facebook and I reached out, and this interview is happening about a year later. He tells his story about what happened and the transformation and the change that’s happened by being involved inside our Clickfunnels, Funnel Hacker community. So I wanted to share that with you as part of the event, so this first half is going to be Nic kind of telling his story and it’s going to be the story from the bottom of the barrel where they were, they literally made $25,000 a year for 3 years in a row and then the transformation to this year, they’ll do well over six figures. And that’s going to be this first podcast. And the second podcast episode is, I did a live coaching session with him on stage, and I want to share that with you as well because I think there’s a lot of things for you specifically that you can get from this episode too. So the next few episodes are going to be sharing this really fun conversation that happened late night at the Traffic Secrets event with my friend Nic Fitzgerald, and if you think that name sounds familiar, I have talked about him before on this podcast. In fact, a little over a year ago I did a podcast episode called “Being a Rainmaker” that was a personalized podcast that I sent to Nic specifically to help him with what he was struggling with at the time. So anyway, I wanted to share this with you because it will take you full circle to show you kind of the progress and the momentum and things that are happening in his life, and I think it will be encouraging for you to hear the story because no matter where you are in your journey right now, if you are struggling, doing well, or if you’re somewhere in between, there are parts of this story that will resonate with you. And in the second episode where I coach Nic I think will help everybody as well. So with that said, let’s jump right in and have some fun. I want to introduce you to my friend Nic Fitzgerald. Alright so I want to set the tone for the next hour or so of what the game plan is. So I have a first initial question that I’m curious about with everyone here. I’m curious, who since they joined the Two Comma Club X program has had some kind of experience with Mr. Nic Fitzgerald? That’s powerful, I’m going to talk about why in a little bit, but very, very cool. So some of the back story behind this, and then we’re going to introduce him up, and when he comes up I want you guys to go crazy and scream and cheer and clap, because it will be good, and then I want him to sit down so we’ll be the same height, which will be good, it’ll be fun. So some of the back story, I actually met Nic the very first time in elementary school, and even in elementary school he was a foot and a half taller than me, which is amazing. He was like 6 ft 2 in like third grade, it was amazing. But we knew each other when we were dorky little kids and going up through elementary school we were both doing our things, and we didn’t have a care in the world and everything’s happening. And as we got older he kept getting taller, I stopped growing. And then we got into high school and he kept growing and he joined the basketball team. I didn’t keep growing so I went downstairs in the basement, literally, at our high school in the basement they call it the rubber room, and it’s this room that smells like, I don’t even know, but it’s under the gym. So he would go upstairs and fans would show up and people would cheer for them, and scream at their games. And all the girls would come to the games. And we’d go down in the rubber room by ourselves and cut weight and put on our sweats and lose weight and we’d jump rope and sweat like crazy. And we’d sit there, and I remember one day after working out for two hours pouring in sweat, I had my plastic gear on and my sweats on top of that, my hoodie and my hoods and we got the wrestling mats, and literally rolled ourselves up in the wrestling mats to keep the heat in, and we laid there and we were so hot. And I could hear the basketball players in the gym up above having so much fun and people cheering for them. And all the girls were there. And I was like, “Why are we not playing basketball?” It doesn’t make any sense. But during that time, obviously we were in two different kind of worlds, and we didn’t really connect that much, and then we left our separate ways. And I didn’t hear from him for years and years and years. And then do you guys remember Facebook when it first came out? The first time you got it and you log in and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I can connect with people.” And you start searching the friends you know and then you find their friends and you spend a day and a half connecting with every person you’ve ever remembered seeing in your entire life? Do you guys remember that? So I did that one night, I connected with everybody. Everyone in high school, everyone in junior high, or elementary, everyone in every stage of my life, as many as I could think of. And then I was like, I think that’s everybody. Okay, I’ve connected with everybody. And one of those people that night was Nic. And then, but I didn’t say hi, I just friend requested and he requested back and I’m like, cool we’re connected. And then after that I got kind of bored with Facebook for like a year or so. Then a little while later I found out you can buy ads on it and I was like, what, this is amazing. So we started buying ads and everything is happening. And it’s crazy. And then what happened next, I actually want Nic onstage to tell you this story because I want you to hear it from both his perspective and my perspective, I think it’d be kind of interesting. So let’s do this real quick. As you guys know Nic has been a super valuable part of this community since he came in. I’m going to tell the story about how he got here and some of the craziness of how he signed up when he probably shouldn’t have and what’s been happening since then, because I know that you guys have all been part of that journey and been supporting him. How many of you guys are going to his event that’s happening later this week? He just keeps giving and serving, he’s doing all the right things, he’s telling his story, he’s doing some amazing stuff. So my plan now is I want to talk about the rest of the story. I want to tell you guys what I told him a year ago and then I want to tell you guys my advice for him moving forward, because I feel like it’s almost in proxy. I wish I could do that with every one of you guys. Just sit down here and coach you. But I feel like he’s at a stage where some of you guys aren’t to where he’s at yet and some of you are past that, and some of you guys are right where he’s at, and I feel like the advice that I really want to give him, will help you guys at all different levels. So that’s kind of the game plan. So with that said, let’s stand up and point our hands together for Mr. Nic Fitzgerald. Look how tall I am. I feel like….okay, so I had him find this post because I wanted to actually share a little piece of it. So this, I’m going to share a piece of it, I want to step back to where you were at that time in your life. So this was July 7, 2017, so what was that a year and a half ago, ish? So July 7, 2017 there was a post that said, “Long post disclaimer. I hate posting this, blah, blah, blah.” So at the time my family was about to go on a family vacation. We’re packing up the bags and everything, and you know how it is, you do a bunch of work and then you stop for a second and your wife and kids are gone and you’re like, pull out the phone, swap through the dream 100 and see what’s happening.  And somehow this post pops up in my feed and I see it, I see Nic my buddy from 20+ years ago and I’m reading this thing and my heart sinks for him. Some of the things he says, “I hate posting things like this, but I felt like need to for a while. Being poor stinks. For those friends of mine who are ultra conservative and look down consciously or not, on people like me, I can honestly tell you that I’m not a lazy free loader who wants something for nothing. I’m not a deadbeat who wants Obama or whoever to blame now, to buy me a phone. I’m not a lowlife trying to get the government to pay for my liposuction. I’m not a druggie who eats steak and lobster for dinner with my food stamps. I’m a father of four, a husband, someone who lost everything financially, including our home when the time came to have your healthcare in place or to get fined, I went through the process. “Based on my family size and income, we were referred to the state to apply for those programs. We couldn’t get coverage for ourselves to the exchange in other places, we qualified for Medicaid. After the process was complete, the state worker suggested we try to get some other help, some food stamps.” It kind of goes on and on and on and he says, “In 2016 I made $25000. $25,000 plus our tax returns for the previous year. So a family of 6 living on $25,000 a year is being audited for receiving too much help, too much assistance.” And it kind of goes on and on and on with that. He says, “I’ve never abused drugs or alcohol, I’ve never even tried them. I’m just a guy trying to live the American dream and provide for his family. It’s unfortunate that we look down on those who are trying to better our lives, even if it leaves them from receiving help from assistance in place to help them. Look down on me if you want, I don’t care. I know the truth. My family is healthy and sheltered and that’s all that matters. I don’t wish these trials on anyone else…” and it kind of goes on from there. So I want to take you back to that moment, what was, talk about what you were experiencing and what you were going through during that time. Nic: I didn’t expect this. I’m a friendly giant, but I’m a big boob too. Back at that time, I had started what I thought was, I started my entrepreneurial journey. I was working in film full time, working 12, 14, 16 hour days making $200 a day, just killing myself for my family. Going through the process of, I’d lost my job because I wasn’t going to hit my sales, I was a financial advisor, and I wasn’t going to hit my sales numbers. So you know, my ticket was stamped. So I said okay, I’m going to do my own thing. And in the course of all that, it was time to get your health insurance and those things, and I went through the proper channels, like I felt like I should. And I was referred to the government for the programs, based on the numbers. And as a provider, a father, an athlete competitor, I felt like a failure. We’ve all, when you have to rely on somebody else , or somebody else tells you, “Hey, we don’t think you can do this on your own, come over here and we’ll take care of you.” That’s basically what I was told. So it was hard to accept that and to live with that reality. So we did, and I worked hard and it was a blessing really, to not have to worry about how much health care costs or have some of the things to supplement to feed our family and stuff. So it was great and it was wonderful. But then I got the email from the state saying, “Hey, you’re being audited. We’re just looking at things and we’re not sure. You’ve been getting too much help.” So at that point I’m just sitting there frustrated because I’m working my butt off, just trying to make things happen, become someone involved in the film community in Utah. And I was, and everyone knew me, and I had a reputation, but I still was a nobody in the eyes of the government. So I went to Facebook to whine, looking for what I wanted, which was a pat on the back, “There, there Nic, you’re doing…we know you’re a good dude and you’re working hard.” That kind of thing, and I did… Russell: I was reading the comments last night. “Oh you’re doing a good job man. Good luck.” Everyone like babying him about how tough life can be. Nic: So I got what I wanted, but it still didn’t change anything. I still had to submit my last two years of tax returns and all of the pay that I’d got and everything like that, so they could look at our case number, not Nic, Leisle, Cloe,Ewen, Alek, William. So it was just one of those things. I got what I wanted, then comes Russell to give me what I needed, which was…. Russell: I saw that and I’m like packing the kids bags and everything and I was like, “ah, do I say something?” I don’t want to be that guy like, “Hey, 20 years ago…” and I was like, ah, I kept feeling this. Finally I was like, “hey man, I know we haven’t talked in over 20 years…” This was on Facebook messenger, “we hadn’t talked in like 20 years. I saw your post today and it sucks. And I know what’s wrong, and I can help. But at the same time, I don’t want to be that guy and I don’t want to step on any toes. I know we haven’t talked in 20 years, I have no idea if this is even appropriate. But I know what’s wrong, I can help you. And no, this is not some cheesy MLM I’m trying to pitch you on. But if you’re interested in some coaching, I know what’s wrong.” And I kind of waited and then I started packing the bags again and stuff like that. I’m curious of your thoughts initially as you saw that. Nic: It’s funny because my phone was kind of blowing up with the comments. So I would hear the little ding and I would check. And then I saw that it was a message from Russell, and we had said like, “Hey, what’s up.” And had a few tiny little small talk conversations, but nothing in depth personal. So I saw that he sent a message, so I’m like, “Sweet.” So I look at it, and I was half expecting, because I knew he was successful, I didn’t know about Clickfunnels per se. I knew he had something going on that was awesome, but I didn’t know what it was. So I was wondering, “I wonder what he’s going to say, what he has to say about things?” But I read it and it was funny because when you said, “I don’t want to overstep my bounds. It’s been a long time, I don’t want to step on toes.” Kind of thing, Russell, we all know his athletic accolades and stuff. I was a great basketball player too, I was in the top 200 players in the country my senior year and stuff like that. So I’ve been coachable and played at high levels and been coached by high level guys. So when I read it and he said, “I know what’s wrong and I can help you.” I was just like, “Yes.” That was my reaction. I just did the little, um, fist pump, let’s do this. So I replied back and I thanked him for reaching out and stuff, and I just said, I think I even said, “I’m coachable. I will accept any guidance.” And things like that. Because up until that point in my life, especially in sports, if a coach showed me something, I would do it the way he did, and I would kick the other dude’s butt. I didn’t care. I played against guys who made millions of dollars in the NBA. I dunked, I posterized on Shawn Marion when he was at UNLV my freshman year of college. I started as a freshman in a division one school in college. So I would take, I’ve always been that kind of, I would get that guidance, that direction, I can put it to work. So I was just like, “Dude, Mr. Miyagi me.” I’m 8 days older than him, so I’m like, “young grasshopper, yes you can teach me.” That kind of thing. So I welcomed it and I was excited. I had no idea, because again I didn’t know what he did. I just knew he had a level of success that I didn’t have. And if he was willing to give me some ideas, I was going to hear him out for sure. Russell: It was fun, because then I messaged him back. I’m packing the car and Collette’s like, “We gotta go, we gotta go.” I was like, ah, so I get the thing out and I was like, “This is the deal. I’m driving to Bear Lake, it’s like a six hour drive. I’m going to give you an assignment and if you do it, then I’ll give you the next piece. But most people never do it, so if you don’t that’s cool and I’ll just know it’s not worth your time. But if it’s really worth your time, do this thing. I need you to go back and listen to my podcast from episode one and listen to as many episodes as possible, and if you do that I’ll make you a customized episode just for you telling you exactly what’s wrong and how to fix it. But you have to do that first. “And I’m not telling you this because I’m on some ego trip, but just trust me. The problem is not your skill set, you  have mad skills, you’re good at everything. It’s all a problem between your ears. If we can shift that, we can shift everything else.” Then I jumped in my car and took off and started driving for six hours. And then the next day, or a day later you’re like, “I’m 14 episodes in.” he was still listening to the crappy one’s, according to Steven Larsen. The Marketing In Your Car, he was probably thinking, “This is the worst thing I’ve ever heard, ever.” But he did it. I said do it, he did it. And he kept doing it and doing it, and so two days into my family vacation I had Norah, you guys all know Norah right. She’s the coolest. But she won’t go to bed at night, she’s a nightmare. Don’t let that cute face trick you, she’s evil. So I’m like, I can’t go to sleep, so finally I was like, I’m going to plug her in the car and drive around the lake until she falls asleep. So I plug her in the car, strap her in and I start driving. And I’m like, this could be a long, long thing. She’s just smiling back here. I was like ugh. I’m like you know what, I’m going to do my episode for Nic. So I got my phone out, I clicked record and for probably almost an hour, it was an hour. I’m driving around the lake and I explain to him what I see. Did anyone here listen to that episode? I’m curious. I’m going to map out really quick, the core concept. Because some of you guys may be stuck in this, and the goal of this, what I want to do is I want to map this out, and then what’s funny is last year at Bear Lake, so a year later we had this thing where I was like, we should do a second round where I do a year later, this is the advice now. And I wrote a whole outline for it and I totally never did it. So I’m going to go through that outline now, and kind of show him the next phase. So you cool if I show kind of what I talked about? Nic: For sure. Russell: Alright, so those who missed the podcast episode, who haven’t been binge listening, you’ve all failed the test, now you must go back to episode number one, listen to the cheesy jingle and get to episode, I don’t know what it was. Okay, I’ve said this before, if you look at any business, any organization, there’s three core people. The first one is the person at the top who is the entrepreneur. The cool thing about the entrepreneur is the entrepreneur is the person who makes the most amount of money. They’re the head and they get the most amount of money. The problem with the entrepreneur is they also have the most risk, so they’re most likely to lose everything. I’ve lost everything multiple times because I’m the guy risking everything. But the nice thing is entrepreneurs that write their own paychecks, there’s no ceilings. So they can make as much as they want. They can make a million, ten million, a hundred million, they can do whatever they want because there’s no ceiling. So that’s the first personality type. The second personality type over here is what we call the technicians. The technicians are the people who actually do the work. And what’s funny, if you look at this, people who go to college are the technicians. What do they do, they look down on entrepreneurs, they look down on sales people. “Oh you’re in sales. What are you a doctor?” For crying out loud in the night. But they look down on people like us. Because “I’m a doctor. I went to 45 years of school.” What’s interesting, there’s technicians in all sorts of different spots right. I actually feel bad, I shouldn’t say this out loud, but at the airport here I saw one of my friends who is an amazing doctor and him and his wife were leaving on a trip and we were talking and he said, “This is the first trip my wife and I have been on in 25 years, together by ourselves.” I’m like, “What?” and he’s like, ‘Well, we had medical school and then we had kids and then we had to pay off medical school and all these things. Now the kids are gone and now we finally have a chance to leave.” I was like, wow. Our whole lives we’ve heard that medical school, becoming a doctor is the…..anyway that’s a rant for another day. But I was like, there’s technicians. And what’s interesting about technicians, they don’t have any risk. So there’s no risk whatsoever, but they do have, there’s a price ceiling on every single person that’s a technician, right. And depending on what job you have your price ceiling is different. So doctors, the price ceiling is, I have no idea what doctor’s make, $500 grand a year is like the price ceiling, that’s amazing but they can’t go above that. And different tasks, different roles, different position all have different price ceilings. But there’s like, this role as a technician makes this much, and this one makes this much and you’re all kind of these things. I said the problem with you right now, you have these amazing skill sets, but you are stuck as a technician in a role where they’re capping you out, where the only thing you can make is $25k a year. Remember I asked you, “What have you been doing?” and you’re like, “Oh, I’ve been networking, I’ve been learning, I’ve been getting my skills up, getting amazing.” I’m like, “That’s amazing, you’re skills are awesome, but your ceiling is $25k a year. No matter how good you get you are stuck because you’re in a technician role right now.” I said, “you’ve got a couple of options. One is go become an entrepreneur, which is scary because you’ve got four kids at home and you don’t have money anyway.” I am so eternally grateful that when I started this game, my wife, first off, we didn’t have kids yet, my wife was working, we didn’t have any money but I didn’t have to have any money at that time, and I’m so grateful I was able to sometimes, I was able to risk things that nowadays is hard. For you to come jump out on your own initially and just be like, “Boom, I’m an entrepreneur and I’m selling this stuff.” That’s scary right, because you’ve got all this risk. So I was like, that’s the thing, but it’s going to be really, really hard. I said, “there’s good news, there’s one more spot in this ecosystem. And the cool thing about that spot it’s that it’s just like the entrepreneur, there’s no ceiling, now the third spot over here is what we call the rainmakers. The rainmakers are the people who come into a business and they know how to make it rain. This is the people who know how to bring people into a company. Leads, they bring leads in. They know all this traffic stuff they’re talking about. These are the people who know how to sell to leads and actually get money out of peoples wallets and put it into the hands of the entrepreneurs. These people right here, the rainmakers don’t  have ceilings. In fact, companies who give the rainmaker the ceiling are the stupidest people in the world, because the rainmaker will hit the ceiling and then they’ll stop. If you’re smart and you have a company, and you have rainmakers, people driving traffic, people doing sales, if you have a ceiling they will hit and they will stop. If you get rid of the ceiling and then all the sudden they have as much as they want, they have less risk than the entrepreneur, but they have the ability to make unlimited amount of money. I said, “Your skill set over here as a technician is worth 25k a year, but if you take your skill set and shift it over here and say, “I come into a company and I’m a rainmaker. I create videos, I create stories, they’ll sell more products, more things.” Suddenly you’re not worth 25,000, now you’re worth $100,000, you’re worth $500,000. You’re worth whatever you’re able to do, because there’s no ceiling anymore. And that was the point of the podcast. I got done sending it, then I sent it to him and I sent it to my brother to edit it. And I have no idea what you thought about it at that point, because we didn’t talk for a while after that. But I’m curious where you went from there. Nic: So the first thing, you know, being told I was really only worth $25,000 in the eyes of the people who were hiring me, that was a punch in the gut. That sucked to hear. Thanks man. It was just like, I literally was working 12, 14, 16 hour days, lifting heavy stuff, I did a lot with lighting and camera work, not necessarily the story writing stuff, but you know, for him to put it so perfectly, that I was a technician. I thought going in, when I failed as an advisor and I started my own company, or started doing videos for people, and being so scared to charge somebody $250 for a video, being like, “they’re going to say no.” That kind of thing, and now I wouldn’t blink my eyes for that. But you know, it’s one of those things for him to tell it to me that way, just straight forward being like, “You are, you’re learning great skills and you’re meeting amazing people.” I worked with Oscar winners and Emmy winners and stuff in the movies and shows that I worked on, but again, I was only worth that much, they had a finite amount of money, and I was a small part of it, so I got a small piece. So listening to all of that, and then hearing the entrepreneur, the risk and stuff. I’m really tall, I’m 6’9” if you didn’t know. I’m a sink or swim guy, but because I’m tall I can reach the bottom of the pool a lot easier. When I jumped in, we had lost, as a financial advisor we had lost our home and we lost all these things. So I was like, I have nothing left to lose. Worst case scenario, and I had never heard that mindset before. We were renting a basement from a family members, our cars were paid off. Worst case scenario is we stayed there and get food stamps and that kind of thing. There was nowhere to go but up from there. So for me, I was just so excited. I’m like, I want to be a rainmaker, I want to be an entrepreneur, but I didn’t know where to find the people that I could do that for. So I was in this thing where I was still getting lots of calls to work as a technician, but I didn’t want to do that anymore. I didn’t want to put myself, my body, my family through me being gone and then when I’m home I’m just a bump on a log because I’m so wiped out, all that kind of stuff. So that was my biggest first thing, the action point for me. I started thinking, okay how do I transition out of this? How do I get myself out and start meeting the right people, the right kinds of clients who do have budgets and things like that, and how do I make it rain for them. That’s when I made that shift from working as a technician. I told myself I’m not going to do it anymore. The last time I technically worked as a technician was about 9 months ago. It was for a friend. So I made that shift and it was just amazing. Like Russell was talking about earlier, when you start to track it or when it’s part of your mindset, things start to show up and happen. You meet the right people and stuff. So those things just started, just by listening to that one hour long thing, I started changing and then the black box I got, Expert Secrets and Dotcom Secrets and started going through that as well. And it was just like, you see in the Funnel Hacker TV, that moment where the guy goes, “RAAAAA” that’s what happened with me. It was like a whole new world, Aladdin was singing. He was Aladdin and I was Jasmine, with a beard. Russell: I can show you the world. Nic: Exactly. But that’s what really, literally happened with me. Russell: That’s cool. Alright this is like summertime, he’s going through this process now, figuring things, changing things, shifting things, he’s changing his mindset. We go through the summer, we go through Christmas and then last year’s Funnel Hacking Live, were we in February or March last year? March, and so before Funnel Hacking Live we kind of just touched base every once in a while, seeing how things are going. He’s like, “Things are going good. I’m figuring things out.”  And then Funnel Hacking Live was coming, and I remember because we’re sitting there, and I think he messaged me or something, “Funnel Hacking looks awesome I wish I could make it.” I was like, “Why don’t you come?” And you’re like, “I just can’t make it yet.” I was like, “How about this man, I guarantee you if you show up it’ll change your life forever. I’m not going to pay for your flights or your hotel, but if you can figure out how to get there, I’ll give you a free ticket.” And that’s I said, “if you can come let Melanie know, and that’s it.” And I didn’t really know much, because you guys know in the middle of Funnel Hacking Live my life is chaos trying to figure out and how to juggle and all that stuff. So the next thing I know at Funnel Hacking Live, we’re sitting there and during the session I’m looking out and I see Nic standing there in the audience. And I was like, ‘I have no idea how he got there, but he’s there. Freaking good for him.” And I have no idea, how did you get there? That wasn’t probably an easy process for you was it? Nic: No. Credit cards. It was one of those things, I looked at flights. As soon as we had that conversation, it was funny because I was, I can’t remember what was going on, but it was a day or two before I responded back to his invitation. And I was like, I’d be stupid to say no. I have no idea how I’m going to get there. I think I even said, “I’ll hitch hike if I have to, to get there.” Can you imagine this giant sasquatch on route 66 trying to get to Florida. But I told my wife about it, and this is where Russell might have this in common. My wife is incredible and super supportive and she let me go. And we didn’t have the money in the bank so I said, “I’m going to put this on the credit card, and as soon as I get back I’m going to go to work and I’ll pay it off. I’ll get a couple clients and it will be fine.” So I booked the hotel, luckily I was able to get somebody who wasn’t able to go at the last minute and I got their hotel room, and I got the lfight and I came in and I was in the tornado warnings, like circling the airport for 5 hours, like the rest of you were. So I got there and I just remember I was just so excited. Walking in the room the very first day, the doors open and you all know what it’s like. I don’t have to relive this story. I remember I walked in and the hair on my arms, it was just like {whistling}. It was incredible, just the energy and the feeling. And I was like, t his is so cool. And then the very first speech, I was like that was worth every penny to get here. If I left right now it would have all been worth it. And you all know because you’re sitting here, you’ve felt that too. So that was my, getting there was like, “Honey, I know we don’t have the money, we have space on the credit card, and when I get home I swear I will work hard and it will be okay.” And she’s like, “Okay, go.” So I did. Russell: So now I want to talk about, not day one, or day two, but on day three at Funnel Hacking Live. How many of you guys remember what happened on day three? Russell sneak attacked all you guys. I was like, if I start going “Secret one, Secret two, Secret three” you guys will be like, “Here it is.” Sitting back. I was like, how do I do the Perfect webinar without people knowing it’s the perfect webinar? And I’m figuring this whole thing out, trying to figure that out. And we built a nice presentation, create an amazing offer for this program you guys are all in. And as you know, all you guys got excited and ran to the back to sign up and now you’re here. But you told me this personally, I hope you’re willing to share. But I thought it was amazing because you didn’t sign up that night. And I would love to hear what happened from then to the next day, and kind of go through that process. Nic: So this is my first Clickfunnels, I was all new to this whole thing. I was so excited when the 12 month millionaire presentation came up and I was like, “This is awesome.” Then I see it in the stack and I’m like, “I’m seeing the wizard,  I can see the wizard doing his thing.” And I was just so excited, and then the price. And it was a punch in a gut to me, because I was so, listening to it I was like, ‘This is what I need. This is what I want, this is what I need. It’s going to be amazing.” And then the price came and seriously, the rest of the night I was just like…. The rest of the presentation and everything after that I was just kind of zoned out. I just didn’t know what to do. Because I knew I needed it so badly and I’m like, that’s almost twice what we’re paying in rent right now. You know, it was just like, how am I going to justify this when I’m on food stamps and Medicaid and all this kind of stuff. You know, “yes, I’m on that but I dropped this money on a coaching program.” Russell: “From this internet coach.” Nic: Right. And so I’m having this mental battle and get back home to my room that night and I didn’t go hang out with people. I just was not feeling it. And I remember texting my wife on the walk back to the room. And I took the long way around the pond, just slowly depressedly meandering back to my room. And I’m texting her and I’m telling her how amazing it was and what the program would do and all that kind of stuff, and she’s like, “That sounds great.” And I’m purposely not saying how much it’s going to cost, just to get her excited about it, so I can maybe do a stack with her right. “For this and this….” See if I could try it. I didn’t, I failed when it came to doing that. I told her the price and she’s like, “That’s a lot of money. How are you going to pay for it.” And I’m like, “I don’t know.” And I’m like, “The only thing I can do, because I have to sign up while I’m here, and pay for it while I’m here. I can put it on the credit card and then we will figure it out.” So we talked a lot and I talked to my dad and it was the same thing. He was like, “Man, that’s a lot.” Just the scarcity mindset that a lot of us have with our family members and support system who aren’t, don’t think, who aren’t the crazy ones. So I went to bed and I got emotional, and I slept so so bad. Just didn’t sleep well that whole night. And again, I talked to my wife again the next morning, and I just, we just said, “It would be awesome. But I can’t do it, so I’m just going to work hard and figure something out and then if it ever opens up again, then I’ll be in a position to do it.” So I left my room that morning with that in my mind. I made the mistake of keeping my wallet in my pocket though, because I’m here. I again made the long walk back and kind of gave myself a pep talk like, “Don’t worry about that kind of stuff. Just more value out of it, meet more people.” So that’s when I left my room that morning, that’s where my mind was. Russell: What happened next? Nic: I walked into the room and Kevin Hansen, who I had, it’s funny, he does a lot of editing for Clickfunnels, and he and I had actually met independent of Clickfunnels before. It was one of those things like, “Oh you do, oh my gosh.” and it was like 2 months after we’d met. So I was talking to him, just chitchatting, and I just had right then in my mind, it was like, “Walk over to the table and sign up. If you don’t do it now, you’re never going to do it.” And it was just one of those things, because I’d given myself that speech, that whole five minute walk across the property. So I finished up talking with him and I just said, “I’ll be right back.” And I walked straight over to the table, got out the credit card, wrote it all down, and I’m like, I don’t even know what my limit is, so I hope whenever they run this that it goes through. I don’t know what’s going to happen. So I did and I got that little silver ribbon that we all got. And again, {whistling} chills. Like I was like, holy crap, this is amazing. I put it on my little lanyard thing and I was just like, I couldn’t believe it. The adrenaline and all that stuff of, “I’m doing it. And my wife is going to kill me when I get back home.” So that’s, then I went and got my seat and I was just floating, you know. I was so amped, I could have “Steven Larsened” it and screamed over the noise of everybody else and it would have been very, you would have heard it. So that’s what I did that morning. I was like, ‘Not going to do it, not going to do it, not going to do it.” I walked in, 60 seconds done. You have my money. Russell: So I’m curious, when did you tell your wife? This is like a marriage counseling session, huh? Nic: yeah, do you have a couch I can lay down on? Russell: A big couch. Nic: yeah, really. So I got home and I didn’t tell her, at all. I didn’t. I said, the clock is ticking. I have 30 days until that hits, or 20 days until the credit card statement comes and she’s like, “Wait, why is there an extra $2000 bucks on here?” So I just, I said, I’ve got some time because my wife, she’s 5’3”, she’s dainty, little petite lady, but she’s not scary I guess. But this is the first time I was really scared to tell her something in our marriage. So I just said, I’m just going to hit the road hard and see what I can come up with to cover at least the $1800 and the hotel, for what I racked up at Funnel Hacking Live, and then that will get me another 30 days to figure something out. So I went and I never told her until the credit card statement came and she saw it. She’s like, “What’s this?” But what happened before that, I don’t know, do you have something after that or do you want me to go to the next part? Okay, so me going to work and being like, “I gotta find it.” and it’s funny that night at Funnel Hacking Live, I went on Facebook and I created some half thought through offer where it was like, “Hey if I can get like 5 people locally where I’m at to do a monthly low number where I create a couple of videos for a monthly retainer, that will cover it and I can figure it. But nobody nibbled on it. So I got home and I started just trying to figure stuff out. And I had met another lady who had a company and she uses Clickfunnels for her course. And it was funny, I talked to her before I went to Funnel Hacking Live, and we were talking and she was like, “Do you know Clickfunnels?” And I was like, “That’s so crazy. I do.” Because I’d never met anybody else that had. So I got home and I shot a little video with her, it was a test to do some modules for her course and she loved it and it was great. So we were talking about, she had like 20 videos she wanted to do and we were talking about budget, and I just said, “you know what, for that much, for that many videos and all this kind of stuff, it’s going to be $25,000.” And she didn’t even blink. She’s like, “Perfect, that’s great.” Thank you, you guys. You’re going to make me cry. Thank you.  And that was like maybe two weeks after I got home that that happened. And I left her house and I tried my hardest not to do a jump heel click going down her driveway, out to my car, and I got around the corner and I messaged Russell like, “dude, you’ll never guess. I just closed my first 5 figure deal and this is what it was…” and he was like, “That’s so cool.” You know. But it was the whole plata o plomo thing, I would never have the guts to ask for something like that, I know that I should and that my skills and what I can do are worth that and more, and it’s been proven to me again and again since then, but to ask the first time, that first time you have a big ask and you’re just throwing yourself out there, and if she would have said no…Now what am I going to do? Because I had actually done another pitch where I did like a webinar pitch where I  had a stack and slides and stuff because it was for a Chamber of Commerce, and I wanted to charge them 2500 a month to do like 4 videos a year. And I did the whole thing like, “If you do it, it’s $2500 a month, or if you do it all right now it’s this…” that whole you know, and they passed on it. I was like, ugh. So it was just one of those things where being around y’all, that was my first experience being around entrepreneurs, really. I have friends who have had businesses, but I felt weird for wanting to create my own thing or being selfish because I have four kids. Like why don’t you go get a real job? All those conversations that you hear and have with yourself, especially when things aren’t going great. But it was like okay, I have to get it done or I have to drop out. And I just, even in that short amount of time I received so much value from the people I was beginning to meet, and then as the content started coming out I was like, “There’s no way I could live without this after having a taste of it.” So that was my, I had to get it done and it worked out. Russell: Amazing, I love that story. So coo. Alright, so since then, how many of you guys have watched his….are you daily or almost daily Facebook Lives? Nic: Pretty much, almost daily. I’ll miss some… Russell: How many of you guys have watched his daily Facebook lives, he’s doing what we’re saying right. He’s doing it. He’s doing it. I see it, I see it coming in my feed. It pops in my feed over and over. He’s doing what we’re talking about. He’s attracting people, he’s telling stories. All the stuff we’re talking about, he’s been doing it. But part of it, he had to have that emotion, that plata o plomo moment and then he hit it and it’s just like, he’s been running and running and running and running. And it’s been so insanely fun to watch the progress and the growth. Some of you guys know he put out an event that’s coming up this weekend and sold out in 5 seconds. He’s like, “I sold out, should I make it bigger?” and I’m like, “No people should have responded to you faster, it’s their fault. Sell it out because next time it will be easier to sell it out again and easier to sell out again.” But he did it by giving tons of value. Telling stories, telling stories, telling stories, providing more value to you guys, to other entrepreneurs, other people in the community and people are noticing. All the stuff we talked about today, he’s doing it. Consistently, consistently, consistently doing it. That was so cool. I don’t even know where to go from here. Alright I know where to go from here. Before I move into this, was it scary? Nic: All of it scary? Well, this is what, back to my competitive days, I don’t care who, I’d played against the best players in the country at high levels. And I didn’t care if you were going to the NBA, being recruited by Duke, once we got into the lines I didn’t care who you were, I was going to make you look silly. I would hold, you wouldn’t score a point on me, or I would just like out work you and if you wanted to get anywhere I was in your face the whole time. And so this was a whole different game for me. I remember Myron talking about in his speech at Funnel Hacking Live, you have to stay in the game long enough to learn the game, and I was new to this game. Like brand new, less than 12 months when I went to Funnel Hacking Live. And it was terrifying because, not necessarily because I didn’t think I could do it, I was just worried when, how long it would take. Like am I going to go and just spin my wheels and it’s going to be 15 years, 2099 and I’m wheeling up across to get my reward from him in his wheelchair, just like, “Hey buddy.” You know, that kind of thing. I just didn’t know how to make it happen quick. That kind of stuff. So I was definitely scared, not necessarily of failing, because I had failed before, I was just scared how long it was going to take. Russell: one of the best moments for me was this summer, him and his family were driving home from, I can’t remember where, they were driving through Boise, and he’s like, “Can we swing by and say hi? My kids want to meet you, my wife wants to meet you.” That’s always scary when you haven’t met someone’s wife or kids and you’re like, what if they hate me. And I remember I started thinking, oh my gosh. He spent all his money coming out here, and then he bought the thing, she might legitimately want to kill me. I have no idea. I was a little bit nervous. And I came and met them and the kids, it was super cool. I remember the coolest thing, your wife just looked at me and she said, “Thank you.” And I was like, how cool is that? Just the coolest thing. Thank you for convincing, persuading, whatever the things are to do this thing. I think sometimes as entrepreneurs we feel the guilt or the nervousness of, “Should I sell somebody something? Is it right, is it wrong?” You have to understand when you’re doing it, it’s not a selfish thing for you. It’s like, how do I get this person to take the action they need to do. Because most people won’t do it until they make an investment. It’s just human nature. They’ll keep dinking around and dinking around, whatever it is until they have a commitment, until they make that covenant, like Myron talked about earlier, people don’t change. So in any aspect of life, you want someone to make a change, there’s got to be something that causes enough pain to cause the change, which is why we have the program. We could have priced the program really, really cheap but I was like, “No we won’t.” We legitimately wanted to make a plata o plomo moment for everybody. You’ll notice, when the program signup, not everybody who signed up is here today. Some people fell away, some of them left, things happen and I totally understand, but I wanted to make it painful enough that we get people to move. And there are people in this room, I’ve joked about, Nic probably shouldn’t have bought that. If he would have asked I would’ve been like, “No dude, don’t. What are you thinking? Why would you do that?” as a friend this is weird, but I’m so grateful. Are you grateful you did? Nic: Absolutely. Russell: Where’s Marie Larsen, is she still in here? I talked about this in the podcast. She was in the same situation, she should not have signed up for it, it’s insane. I saw this text she sent Steven, she’s like, how much did you have in your bank account when you signed up for it? $70 in the bank account, $1800 a month bill she signed up for. And then it started happening and she was freaking out how it’s going, if you guys haven’t listened to the podcast, Lean In, yet I told the whole story. But it got nervous month one, then month two happened and she’s like, “Oh my gosh, I need to leave. I can’t afford this.” And she’s talking with Steven and Steven’s like, “Well, you could leave and walk away, or you could lean in.” so she decided, “Okay, I’m going to lean in.” So she leaned in, and I’ve watched as her business over the last 3, 4, 5, 6 months is growing and it’s growing and it’s growing because she leaned in. Tough times will come, every single time it comes, but those who lean in are the ones who make it through that, and who grow and who build huge businesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Air Transat presents two friends traveling in Europe for the first time and feeling some pretty big emotions. This coffee is so good. How do they make it so rich and tasty? Those paintings we saw today weren't prints. They were the actual paintings. I have never seen tomatoes like this. How are they so red? With flight deals starting at just $589, it's time for you to see what Europe has to offer. Don't worry, you can handle it. Visit airtransat.com for details. Conditions apply. AirTransat.

Travel moves us. Hey, everyone. This is Russell Brunson. Welcome to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Next two episodes are a really special one for our Two Comma Club X members and our Inner Circle members. I did an event recently. Some of you guys heard me talk about it. And it was a traffic secrets event where I'm getting all the material ready for the book. And the night before I was doing all the

prep work, I had this thought. I was like, I want to bring up somebody on stage. And it's somebody who was a friend I grew up with in elementary school and junior high and high school. And someone who was down on the luck, who was really, really struggling. And about a year ago, I saw him post something on Facebook and I reached out. And this interview is happening about a year later later and he tells his story about what happened in the transformation and the change that's happened by being involved inside of our ClickFunnels Funnel Hacker community and so I wanted to share that with you as part of the event and so this first half is going to be Nick kind of telling his story and it's going to be the story from you know from the bottom of the barrel where they were they literally made $25,000 a year for three years in a row.

Then the transformation to this year will be well over six figures. That's going to be the first podcast. The second podcast episode is I did a live coaching session with him on stage. I want to share it with you as well because I think there's a lot of things for you specifically that you could get from this episode too. So the next two episodes are going to be sharing this really fun conversation that happened late night at the Traffic Seekers event with my friend Nick Fitzgerald. And if you think that name sounds familiar, I have talked about him before on this podcast. In fact, a little over a year ago, I did a podcast episode called Being a Rainmaker that was a personalized podcast that I sent to Nick

specifically to help him with what he was struggling with at the time. So anyway, I wanted to share this with you because it'll take you full circle to show you kind of the progress and the momentum and things that are happening in his life. And I think that it'll be encouraging for you to hear the story because no matter where you are in your journey right now, if you are struggling, if you're doing well, if you're, you know, and somewhere in between, there are parts of this story that resonate with you. And then the second episode where I coach Nick, I think will help everybody as well. So that said, let's jump right in and have some fun.

I want to introduce you to my friend, Mr. Nick Fitzgerald. 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 answers. My name is Russell Brunson and welcome to Marketing Secrets. All right.

So I want to set the tone for the next hour or so of what the game plan is. So I have a first initial question that I'm curious about with everyone here. I'm curious who, since they joined the Two Column of Quebec's program, has had some kind of experience with Mr. Nick Fitzgerald. Okay, that's powerful. I'm going to talk about why in a little bit, but very, very cool. So some of the backstory behind this, and then we're going to introduce him up when he comes up. I want you guys to go crazy and scream and cheer and clap because it'll be good. And then I want him to sit down so we'll be the same height, which will be good. It'll be really fun. Some of the backstories. So I actually met Nick the very first time in elementary school. And even in elementary school, he was like a foot and a half

taller than me, which is amazing. He was like six foot two in like third grade. It was amazing. But we knew each other. we were dorky little kids and going up through elementary school, we were just both doing our things and we didn't have a care in the world. Everything's happening. And then as we got older, he kept getting taller. I'd stopped growing. And then we got into high school and he kept growing and he joined the basketball team and I didn't keep growing. So I went downstairs in the basement and literally our high school in the basement, there's, they call it the rubber room. And it's this room that smells like, I don't even know.

It's, but it's under the gym. And so he would go upstairs and they'd have fans that would show up. People would cheer for them and scream at their games. All the girls would come to the games. We go down in the rubber room by ourselves and we cut weight and we put on our sweats lose weight, and we jump rope, and we sweat like crazy. And we sit there. I remember one day, after working out for two hours, pouring in sweat, I had my plastic gears on, and my sweats on top of that, my hoodie and my hoods, and we got the wrestling mats. And we literally rolled ourselves up in the wrestling mats to keep the heat in, and we laid there, and we're so hot. And I could hear the basketball players in the gym up above having so

much fun, and people cheering for them, and all the girls were there and i was like why are we not playing basketball it doesn't make any sense um but uh but during that time like obviously we're two different kind of worlds and we didn't really connect that much and then we left our our separate ways and i didn't hear from him for for years and years and years and then um you guys remember facebook first came out the first time you got it and you log in you're're like, oh my gosh, I connect with people. And you start like searching in like the friends you know, and then they find their friends. You spend like a day and a half like connecting with every person you've ever remembered seeing in your entire life. Do you guys remember that? And so I did that one night. I connected with everybody, like everyone

in high school, everyone in junior high, elementary, everyone in every stage of my life, as many as I could think of. And I was like, I think it's everybody. Okay, I've connected with everybody. And one of those people that night was Nick. And then, but I didn't say hi, just like friend requested me, requested back. I'm like, cool, we're connected. And then after that, I got kind of bored with Facebook for like a year or so. And then a little while later, I found out you can buy ads on it. I was like, what? This is amazing. So we started buying ads and everything's happening and it's crazy. And then what happened next, I actually want Nick on stage to tell you this story because I want to hear it from both his perspective and my perspective. I think it would be kind of interesting.

So let's do this real quick. As you guys know, Nick has been a super valuable part of this community since he came in. I'm going to tell a story about how he got here and some of the craziness about how he signed up when he probably shouldn't have and what's been happening since then because I know you guys have all been part of that journey. You guys have been supporting him. How do you guys are going to his event that's happening later this week? Like he just keeps giving and serving.

He's doing all the right things. He's telling the story. Like he's doing some amazing stuff. And so my plan right now is I want to talk about the rest of the story. I want to tell you guys what I told him a year ago. And then I want to tell you guys my advice for him moving forward. Because I feel like it's almost like in proxy. I wish I could do that with every one of you guys and sit down here and just like coach you.

But I feel like he's at a stage where some of you guys aren't where he's at yet. And some of you guys are past that. And some of you guys are right where he's at. And I feel like the advice I want to, I really want to give him will help you guys at all different levels. That's kind of game plan. So with that said, let's stand and put our hands together for Mr. Nick Fitzgerald. Look how tall I am.

Man, I feel like. Okay. So I had him find this post because I wanted to actually share a little piece of it. So this, I'm going to share a piece of it. I want to like step back to where you were at that time in your life. So this is July 7, 2017. So when was that, a year and a half ago-ish? A year and a half ago.

So July 7, 2017, there was a post that said, long post disclaimer, I hate posting this, blah, blah, blah, right? So at the time, my family was on a vacation. We're packing up the bags and everything, and like, you know, you do a bunch of work, and you stop for a second, and your wife and kids are gone. You're like, pull out the phone, just like swap through Dream 100, see what's happening. And somehow, this post pops up in my feed, and I see it. I see Nick, my buddy, from like 20 plus years ago, and I'm reading this thing, and like my heart like sinks for him. Some of the things, he says, I hate posting things like this

but I felt like I need to for a while. Being poor stinks. He says, for those friends of mine who are ultra conservative and look down consciously and all

on people like me, I can honestly tell you that I'm not a lazy freeloader who wants something for nothing. I'm not a deadbeat who wants Obama or whoever to blame now to buy me a phone.

I'm not a lowlife trying to get the government to pay for my liposuction. I'm not a druggy who eats steak and lobster for dinner with my food stamps. I'm a father of four, a husband, someone who lost everything financially, including our home. When the time came to have your health care in place or to get it fine, I went through the process. Based on my family size and income, we referred to the state to apply for those programs. We couldn't get coverage for ourselves through the exchange in other places. We qualified for Medicaid. After the process was complete, the state workers suggested we try to get some other help, some food stamps.

It kind of goes on and on and on. He says, He kind of goes on and on and on with that. He said, I've never abused drugs or alcohol. I've never even tried them. I'm just a guy trying to live the American dream and provide for his family. It's unfortunate when we look down on those who are trying to better lives, even if it leads them from receiving help from systems in place to help them. Look down on me if you want. I don't care. I know the truth. My family is

healthy and sheltered, and that's all that matters. I don't wish to trial anyone else. It kind of goes on from there. So I want to take back to that moment. And like, what was, talk about what your experience, what you were going through during that time. I didn't expect this, but I'm a friendly giant, but I'm a big boob too. So back at that time, I had started what I thought was, I started my entrepreneurial journey. I was working in film, full-time,

working 12, 14, 16-hour days, making 200 bucks a day, just killing myself for my family. And going through the process of, I had lost my job because I wasn't going to hit my sales. I was a financial advisor and I wasn't going to hit my sales number. So, you know, my ticket was stamped, right? So I said, okay, I'm going to do my own thing. And in the course of all of that, you know, it was time to get your health insurance and those things. And I went through the proper channels,

like I felt like I should. And I was referred to the government for the programs because of based on the numbers. And for as a provider, as a father and, you know, an athlete competitor, I felt like a failure, right? We've all, when you have to rely on somebody else or somebody else tells you, hey, like, we don't think you can do this on your own. Come over here and we'll take care of you. That's basically what I was told. And so it was hard to accept that and to live with that reality. So we did, and I worked hard. And it was a blessing, really, to not have to worry about how much health care costs

or have some things to supplement to feed our family and stuff. So it was great and it was wonderful. But then I got the email from the state saying like, hey, you're being audited. We're just looking at things and we're not sure if you've been getting too much help. And so at that point, I'm just sitting there frustrated because I'm working my butt off, just trying to make things happen, become somebody involved in the film community in Utah. And I was. And everyone knew me, and I had a reputation, but I still, you know, was a nobody in the eyes of the government, right? And so I went to Facebook, to Wine,

looking for what I wanted, which was a pat on the back, like, there, there, Nick, you're doing, we know you're a good dude, and you're working hard, and you know, that kind of thing. And I did. I was reading the comments last night.

I said, oh, you're doing a good job, man. Good luck. Everyone like babying him about how tough life can be. Yeah, and so I got what I wanted, but it wasn't, you know, it still didn't change anything. I still had to submit my last two years of tax returns and all of the pay that I got and everything like that. So they could look at our case number, not Nick, Liesl, Chloe, you and Alec, William. So, yeah. And so, it was just one of those things.

So, I got what I wanted. Then comes Russell to give me what I needed, which was, so I saw that and I'm like packing the kids' bags and everything. And I was like, ah, do I say something? Like, I don't want to be that guy. Like, Hey, 20 years ago. And I was like, ah, they kept feeling this. And I finally was like, Hey man, I know we haven't talked in like over 20 years. There's a Facebook message. We've been talking like 20 years. Um um i saw your post today and it sucks um and i know what's wrong and i can help but at the same time like i don't i don't want to be that guy and i don't want to i don't want to step on your toes i know we haven't talked in 20 years i have no idea if it's even

appropriate but i know what's wrong i can help you and no this is not some cheesy ml i'm trying to pitch you on but if you're interested in some coaching, I know what's wrong. And I kind of waited. And I started packing the bags and stuff like that. I'm curious, like, your thoughts initially as you saw that. Well, it's funny because my phone was kind of blown up with the comments, right? So I would hear the little ding and I would check. And then I saw that it was a message from Russell. And we had had like, we'd said like, hey, what's up? And like had a few tiny little small talk conversations, but nothing in-depth personal, right? And so I saw that he sent a message. And so I'm like, sweet, you know?

So I look at it and I was half expecting, because I knew that he was successful. I didn't know about ClickFunnels per se. Like, you know, I knew that he had something going on that was awesome, but I didn't know what it was. So I was wondering, I wonder what he's going to say, what he has to say about things. But I read it, and it was funny because when you said, I don't want to overstep my bounds. It's been a long time.

I don't want to step you know, it's been a long time. I don't want to step on toes kind of thing. I, you know, Russell, we all know his athletic accolades and stuff. I was a great basketball player too. I was in the top 200 players in the country my senior year and stuff like that. So I've been coachable and I've played at high levels and been coached by high level guys. And so when I read it and he said, I can, I know what's wrong and I can help you. I was like, yes. You know, I, I, that's, that was my reaction. I was just, I just did the little, you know, the little fist pump, let's do this. Right. And so I, I, I replied back and I thanked him for reaching out and stuff. And I just said, I, I think I even said I'm coachable. Like I will accept any guidance

and things like that because up, up until that point in my life, especially with sports, if a coach showed me something, I would do it with the way he did it. And I would, I would kick the other dudes, but I didn't care. I've played against guys who made millions of dollars in the NBA. I dunked, I posterized on Sean Marion when he was at UNLV my freshman year of college. Like, I started as a freshman at a Division I school in college. So, like, I would take. I've always been that kind of, when I get that guidance and that direction, I can put it to work. So I was just like, dude, Mr. Miyagi, right?

You're like, teach me. I'm eight days older than him. So I'm a young grasshopper. Yes, you can teach me. That kind of thing. So I welcomed it and I was excited. I had no idea because, again, I didn't know what he did. I just knew he had a level of success that I didn't have.

And if he was willing to give me some ideas, I was going to hear him out for sure. It was fun. So then I messaged him back because I'm like packing the cars and Cliff's like, we got to go, we got to go. I was like, ah. So I get the thing out. I was like, all right, this is the deal.

I'm driving to Bear Lake. It's like a six hour drive right now. I'm going to give you an assignment. And if you do it, then I'll give you the next piece. But most people never do it. So if you don't, that's cool. And I'll just know it's not worth your time.

But if it's really worth your time, do this thing. I need you to go back and listen to my podcast from episode one. Listen to as many episodes as possible. And if you do that, I'll make you a customized episode just for you telling you exactly what's wrong how to fix it but you have to do that first and i'm not telling you this

because of some ego trip and like just but just trust me the problem is not your skill set you have mad skill that you're good at everything it's all a problem between your ears if we can shift that we can shift everything else and i jumped in my car and took off and i started driving six hours yeah and then like the next day or the day later, you're like, I'm 14 episodes in. He was still listening to the crappy ones, according to Stephen Larson. In your car. Yeah, that jingle was the best. He was probably like, this is the worst thing I've ever heard ever.

But he did it, right? I said, do it. He said, did it. And he kept doing it, kept doing it. And so two days into my family vacation, I had Nora. You guys all know Nora, right? She's the coolest, but she won't go to bed at night. She's a nightmare. Don't let the cute face trick you. She's evil, right? And so I'm like, I can't go to sleep. So finally I was like, I'm going to plug her in the car and drive around the lake until she falls asleep. So I plug in the car, strap it in and start driving. And I'm like,

this could be a long, long, she's just smiling back here. And I'm like, ah, and I was like, you know what? I'm going to do my episode for Nick. So I got my phone out. I clicked record. And for almost an hour, didn't I? It was an hour. I'm driving around the lake and I'm explaining to him what I see. Does anyone here listen to that episode?

I'm curious. Yeah. 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,

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Support the show, save time, and find your next hire faster. Remember, when it comes to hiring, Indeed is all that you need. All right, funnel 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,, VP, 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 and 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 a hundred dollar 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. Um, okay. So I'm going to map out really quick the core concept because some of you guys may be stuck in this. So, cause the goal of this, what I want to do is I want to, I want to map this out. And then what's funny is last year at bear lake so a year later we had this thing i was like we should do a second round where i do like a year later this is what like the advice now and i wrote a whole outline for it and i totally never did it

and so i'm going to go through the outline for now kind of show in the next phase so you cool if i show kind of what i talked about for sure all right for those who missed the podcast episode who haven't been listening you've all failed the. Now you must go back to episode number one, listen to cheesy jingle and get to episode four on whatever it was. Okay. I said this, I said, okay, if you look at any business, any organization, there's three core people, right? The first one is the person at the top who is the entrepreneur. Okay. And I said, the cool thing about the entrepreneurs, the entrepreneur is the one that makes the most amount of money, right? Like they're the head that said they need the most amount of money. The problem with the entrepreneurs, they also have the most risks. So

they're more likely to like lose everything, right? Like I've lost everything multiple times because I'm like the guy risking everything. But the nice thing is like entrepreneurs write their own paycheck. There's no ceilings, right? So they can make as much as they want. They can make a million, 10 million, a hundred million. They can use whatever they want because there's no ceiling, right? So that's the first personality type. So the second personality type over here is what we call the technicians. Okay, the technicians are the people that actually do the work, right? It was funny if you look at this.

These are people go to college with the technicians, right? And what do they do? They look down on entrepreneurs. They look down on salespeople like, oh, you're in sales. Like, what are you, a doctor? For crying out loud in the night. But they're like, they look down on people like us, right? Because like, I'm a doctor. I went to 45 years of school. Now, what's interesting is that there's technicians in all sorts of different spots, right? I actually feel bad. I shouldn't say this out loud. But on the airport here, I saw one of my friends who's an amazing doctor. and him and his wife

were leaving on a trip, and we were talking, and he said, this is the first trip my wife and I have been on in 25 years together by ourselves. I was like, what? He's like, well, we had medical school, and then we had kids, and then we had to pay off medical school, and all these things. Now the kids are gone, and now we finally have a chance to leave. I was like, wow. Our whole life we're fed that like medical school, becoming a doctor is the same. Anyway, all right, that's a rant for another day. But I was like, there's technicians, life we're fed that like medical school, becoming a doctor is this. Anyway, all right. That's a rant for another day. But I was like, there's technicians, right? And what's interesting about technicians is they don't have any risk, right?

So there's no risk whatsoever. But they do have a, there's a price ceiling on every single person that's a technician, right? And depending on what job you have, your price ceiling is different, right? So doctor, the price ceiling is, I have no idea what doctors make. 500 grand a year is like the price ceiling. That's amazing. But like that's, they can't go above that, right? So doctor, the price ceiling is, I have no idea what doctors make, 500 grand a year is like the price ceiling. That's amazing, but like that's, they can't go above that, right? And different tasks, different roles, different positions all have different price ceilings. But there's like, you know, this role as a technician makes about this much, and this

one makes this much, and you're all kind of these things, right? And so the problem with you right now, you have these amazing skill sets, but you are stuck as a technician in a role where they're capping you out with the only thing you can make is 25k a year And remember, I asked you, I'm like, what have you been doing? You're like, oh, I've been networking, I've been learning, I've been getting my skills up, I'm getting amazing. I'm like, that's amazing, your skills are awesome, but your ceiling's 25K a year. Doesn't matter how good you get, you are stuck

because you're in a technician role right now. I said, so you've got a couple options. Number one is go become an entrepreneur, which is scary, especially if you've got four kids at home, and you don't have money anyway, right? I'm so eternally grateful that when I started this game, my wife, I mean, first off, we didn't have kids yet. My wife was, my wife was working. We didn't have any money, but like, I didn't have to have any money that time, and like, I'm so grateful that I was able to do this at the

time, because I was able to risk things that I, that nowadays is hard. Like, for you to come jump out on your own initially, and just be like, boom, I'm an entrepreneur, and like, I'm selling this stuff. That's scary, right? Because you've got all this risk. And so I was like, that's the thing, but it's going to be really, really hard. I said, but the good news, there's one more spot in this ecosystem. And the cool thing about that spot is that it's just like the entrepreneur, there's no ceiling. Now the third spot over here is what we call the rainmakers. Right? Yeah. The rainmakers are the people that come into a business, they know how to make a rain. Okay. This is the people that know how to bring people into a company. Okay. Leads, they

bring leads and they know all this traffic stuff we're talking about. These are the people who know how to sell the leads and actually get money out of people's wallets and put it into the hands of the entrepreneur. These people right here, the rain makers don't have ceilings. In fact, companies who give the rain makers the ceiling are the stupidest people in the world because the rainmaker will hit the ceiling and then they'll stop, right? If you're smart and you have a company of rainmakers, people driving traffic, people doing sales, if you have a ceiling, they will hit it and then they will stop, okay? But you get rid of the ceiling and then all of a sudden they have as much as they want. They have less risk than the entrepreneur, but they have the ability to make unlimited amount of money. I said, your skill set over here as a technician

is worth 25k a year. Do you take your skill set over here as a technician is worth 25K a year. But do you take your skill set and you shift it over here? You say, I come into companies, I'm a rainmaker. I create videos, I create stories that will sell more products, more things. Suddenly you're not worth $25,000. Now you're worth $100,000.

You're worth $500,000. You're worth whatever you're able to do because there's no ceiling anymore. And that was the point of the podcast. I got done sending it and then I sent it to him and I sent it to my brother to edit. And I have no idea what you thought about at that point. Cause we didn't talk a little while after that, but I'm curious where you went from there. So the first thing, you know, being told that I was really only worth 25,000 in the eyes of the

people who were hiring me, that was a punch in the gut. That sucked to hear. Thanks, man. And, you know, it was just like, because I literally was working 12, 14, 16 hour days, lifting heavy stuff. I did a lot with lighting and camera work, not necessarily the story writing stuff. But, you know, I was, and it was for him to put it so perfectly that I was a technician. I thought going in, so when I failed as an advisor and I started my own company, or started doing videos for people and being so scared to charge somebody $250 for a video, being like, oh, they're going to say no,

you know, that kind of thing. And now, you know, I wouldn't blink my eyes for that. But, you know, it's like one of those things for him to tell it to me that way and just straightforward being like, you are, you're learning great skills, you're meeting amazing people. I worked with Oscar winners and Emmy winners

and stuff in the movies and shows that I worked on. But again, I was only worth that much. They had a finite amount of money and I was a small part of it, so I got a small piece and so listening to all of that and then hearing the entrepreneur like the risk and stuff

I'm really tall I'm 6'9 if you didn't know I'm a sink or swim guy but because I'm tall I can reach the bottom of the pool a lot easier so when I jumped in we had lost, as a financial advisor, we lost our home and we lost all these things. So I was like, I have nothing else to lose.

Like worst case scenario, and I had never heard that mindset before. We were renting a basement from a family member. We had our cars were paid off. You know, the worst case scenario is we stay there and get food stamps and that kind of thing there was nowhere to go but up from there so um for me i was just so excited i'm like i want to be a rainmaker i want to be an entrepreneur but i didn't know where to find the people that i could do that for so i was in this thing where i was still getting lots of calls to work as a technician but i didn't want to do that anymore. I didn't want to put myself, my body, my family

through me being gone. And then when I'm home, I'm just a bump on a log because I'm so wiped out, you know, all that kind of stuff. And so that was my biggest first thing, action point for me as I started thinking like, okay, how do I transition out of this? How do I get myself out and start meeting the right people, the right kinds of clients who do have budgets and things like that? And how do I make it rain for them? So that's when I made that shift from working as a technician. I told myself I'm not going to do it anymore. The last time I technically worked as a technician was about nine months ago. It was for a friend, you're right. And so I made that shift and it was just amazing. Like Russell was talking about earlier, when you start to track it or when it's part of your mindset, things start to show up and happen. You meet the right people

and stuff. And so those things just started just by listening to that one hour long thing. I started changing. And then, uh, the, the black box, I got expert secrets and.com secrets and started going through that as well. And it was just like that you see in the funnel hacker TV, like that moment where the guy goes, like, that's what happened with me. It was like a whole new world, you know, like Aladdin was singing. He was Aladdin and I was Jasmine, right? With the beard. I can show you the world. Exactly. So, but that's what really like literally happened with me. So it's cool. All right. So this, this is like summertime. And so he's going through this process now, figuring things, changing, shifting things,

like changing his mindset. We go through the summer, we go through Christmas, and then last year's Funnel Hacking Live. Were we in February or March last year? March. March. And so before Funnel Hacking Live, we kind of just touched base every once in a while by seeing how things are going. It's like, oh, things are going good, figuring things out.

And then Funnel Hacking Live is coming. And I remember because we're sitting there, and I think you messaged me or something. You're like, oh, Funnel Hacking Live is awesome. I wish I could make it. I was like, why don't you come? And you're like, ah, I just can't make it yet. I was like, how about this, man? I guarantee you, if you show up, it'll change your life forever. I'm not going to pay for your flights to your hotel, but if you can figure out how to get there, I'll give you a free ticket. And that's the last I said. And if you can come, let Melanie know. And that's, that's it. And I didn't really know much because you guys know in the middle of Funnel Hacking Live, like my life is chaos.

I'm trying to figure out how to juggle them and all that stuff, right? And so next thing I know, at Funnel Hacking Live, we're sitting there and during the session looking out. And I see Nick standing there in the audience. And I was like, I have no idea how he got there, but he's there. Like, freaking good for him. Like, that's, that's, and I have no idea, how did you get there? That wasn't probably an easy process for you, is it? No.

Credit cards, right? It was one of those things I looked, I looked at flights as soon as we had that conversation. You know, I, it was funny cause I was, I can't remember what was going on, but it was a day or two before I responded back to his invitation. And I was like, I'd be stupid to say no. You know, I have no idea how I'm going to get there. I'll hit, I think I even said like, I'll hitchhike if I have to, to get there, right? Could you imagine this giant Sasquatch on Route 66 trying to get to Florida, right? But I told my wife about it, and, you know, this is where, Russell and I have this in common, like, my wife is incredible and super supportive, and she let me, she let me go and we didn't have the money

in the bank. So I said, I'm going to put this on the credit card. And as soon, like, as soon as I get back, I'm going to go to work and it'll, I'll pay it off. You know, I'll get a couple of clients and it'll be fine. And so I booked the hotel. Luckily I was able to get somebody who wasn't going to be able to go at the last minute. And I got their hotel room and I got the flight and I came in and I was in the tornado warnings like circling the airport for five hours like the rest of you were but um so I got there and I just remember I was just so excited um and like walking in the room the very first day like the doors open and well you all know what it's like I don't have to relive the story. But I remember I walked in and I had the hair on my arms. And it was just like, right?

It was just incredible. Just the energy and the feeling. And I was like, this is so cool. And then the very first speech, I was like, that was worth every penny to get here. If I left right now, it would have all been worth it, right? And you all know because you're sitting here. If I left right now, it would have all been worth it, right? And you all know because you're sitting here. You've felt that too.

So that was my, like getting there, it was like, honey, I know we don't have the money. We have space on the credit card and when I get home, I swear I'll work hard and it'll be okay, right?

And she's like, okay, go. And so I did. That's cool. All right, so now I want to talk about not day one or day two, but on day three of Fodalki Life. Hey guys, remember what happened on day three? Russell sneak attacked all you guys. I was like, if I start going secret one, secret two, secret three, all of you guys be like, oh, here it is. Sitting back. I was like, how do I do the perfect webinar without people knowing it's the perfect webinar? And I'm figuring this whole thing out,

trying to figure out. And we built a nice presentation and create an amazing offer for this program. You guys are all in. And as you know, all of you guys got excited. You're in the back, you signed up and now you're here. But you told me this personally, I hope you're willing to share this, but I thought it was amazing because you didn't sign up that night. And I love to hear what happened from then till the next day and kind of go through that process. Yeah. So this is my first click funnels that I got. I was all new to this whole thing. And, uh, I was so excited when the 12 month millionaire presentation came up and I was like, this is awesome. And then I like seeing the stack and I'm like, I'm seeing the, the wizard has pulled it. I can see the wizard doing his

thing. Right. I was just so excited. And then the price. And it was a punch in the gut to me. Because I was so, I'm like, listening to it, I'm like, this is what I need. This is what I want. This is what I need. Everything. And it's going to be amazing. And then the price came. And like, seriously, it just like, the rest of the night, I was just like, the rest of the presentation and everything after that, I was just kind of like, like zoned out. I just didn't know what to do because I knew I needed it so badly. But I was like, that's almost twice what we're paying in rent right now. You know, it was just like, how am I going to justify this when I, you know, I'm on food stamps and Medicaid and all this kind of stuff? Like, yes, I'm on that, but I dropped this money on a coaching program, right?

From his internet coach. Right. And so I'm having this mental battle. And I get back home to my room that night. And I didn't go hang out with people, or I just was not feeling it. And I remember texting my wife on the walk back to the room, and I took the long way around the pond, you know, just slowly, depressedly meandering back to my room, right?

And I'm texting her, and I'm telling her how amazing it was and what the program would do and all that kind of stuff. She's like, that sounds great. And I'm like purposely not saying how much it's going to cost just to get her excited about it so that I can maybe do a stack with her, right? And be like, well, for this and this, you know, see if I could try it.

I didn't, but I failed when it came to like, you know, doing that. And I told her the price and she's like, that's a lot of money. Like, how are you going to pay for it? I'm like, I don't know. And I'm like, the only thing I could do, cause I have to like sign up while I'm here and pay for it while I'm here. Like I could put it on the credit card and then we will figure it out. Right. But so we talked a lot and I talked to my dad and it was the same thing. He was just like, man, that's a lot, you know, just like the scarcity mindset that a lot of us have with our family members and support system that aren't, don't think we're, who aren't the crazy ones.

And, um, so I went to bed and, you know, I got emotional and stuff like that. And I slept so, so bad. I just didn't sleep very well that whole night. And again, I talked to my wife again in that next morning. And I just, we just said, it would be awesome, but we can't, I can't do it. So I'm just going to work hard

and just figure something out. And then if it ever opens up again, then I'll be in a position to do it, so I'm just going to work hard and just figure something out. And then if it ever opens up again, then I'll be in a position to do it. So I left my room that morning with that in my mind. I made the mistake of keeping my wallet in my pocket, though, right? Because I'm here, right? So I, again, made the long walk back and kind of gave myself a pep talk like don't don't worry about that kind of stuff just like get more value out of it meet more people all that so that's when i left my room the next morning that was where my mind was then what happened next i walked into the

room and kevin anson who i had it's funny he he does a lot of editing for ClickFunnels. And he and I had actually met like independent of ClickFunnels before. Like it was one of those things like, oh, you do, oh my gosh. It was like two months after we'd met, right? So I was talking to him, just chit-chatting. And I just had right then in my mind is like, walk over to the table and sign up. If you don't do it now, you're never going to do it. And it was just one of those things, because I had told, I'd given myself that speech, that whole five-minute walk across the property. And so I finished up talking with him, and I just said, I'll be right back. And I walked straight over to the table, got out the credit card, and wrote it all down. And I'm like, I don't even know what my limit is, so I hope whenever they run this that it's, it goes through or, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. So I did. And I got

that little silver ribbon that we all got. And again, like the chills, like, I was just like, holy crap, this is amazing. I put it on my little lanyard thing and I was just like, I couldn't believe it. It was just like the adrenaline and all that stuff that I'm doing it. And my wife is going to kill me when I get back home. So, you know, so that's, then I went and got my seat and I just was like floating, you know, I was just like so amped. Like I could have Steven Larson did and just like screamed over the noise of everybody else. And it would have been very, uh, you would have heard it right so that's what that's what i did that morning i was like nope i'm not gonna do it not gonna do it not

gonna do it i walked in 60 seconds done you have my money right so i'm curious um when did you tell your wife it's like a marriage counseling session huh yeah do you have a couch I can lay down on? No. Um, big couch. Yeah, really? Um, so I got home and I, I didn't tell her at all. I didn't because I said, okay, the clock is ticking. I have 30 days till that hits again. And, or, or, you know, 20 days till the credit card statement comes. And she's like, wait, why is there an extra 2 000 bucks on here right and so i just i said i've got some time because my wife is she's five three she's dainty little petite lady and but you know she's not scary i guess but like i was like oh this is the first time i was really like scared to tell her something in our marriage. Um, so I, I just said, I'm going to, I'm just going to hit the road hard and see what I can come up with to at least cover

the 1800 and the hotel, like for the, what I racked up at funnel hacking life. And then that will give me another 30 days to figure something out. Right. So I went and, uh, I, I never told her until the credit card statement came and she saw it and she's like, what's this? But what happened before that? Oh, I don't know. Do you, do you have something after that? Or do you want me to go to this next part? Okay. So me going to work and like, I'm like, I got to find it. And it was funny, like that night at funnel hacking live, I, I went on Facebook and I created, like, some, like, you know, half thought through offer where I was like, hey, if I can get, if I can get, like, five people locally where I'm at to, like, do a monthly load number where I create a couple of videos from a month old retainer, that'll cover it and I can figure it. But nobody nibbled on it, right? So I got home and I started, you know, just trying to figure stuff out. And I had met another lady who had a

company and she uses ClickFunnels for her course. It was funny, I talked to her before I went to Funnel Hacking Live. And we were talking and she's like, do you know ClickFunnels? I was like, that's so crazy. I do, you know, because I'd never met anybody else that had. And so I got home and I shot a little video with her. It was a test to do some modules for her course. And she loved it and it was great. And so we were talking about, she had like 20 videos she wanted to do. And we were talking about budget. And I just said, you know what, for that much, for that many videos and all this kind of stuff, it's going to be $25,000.

And she didn't even blink. She's like, perfect. That's great. 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, okay? Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps you to find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions. It 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.

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And, uh, And you guys. You're going to make me cry. Thank you. And that was like maybe two weeks after I got home that that happened. And I left her house and I tried my hardest not to do like a jump heel click going down

her driveway, out to my car. And I got around the corner and I i messaged russell i was like dude you'll never guess i just closed my first five-figure deal and this is what it was and you know and he was like that's so cool you know but it was um the whole plata oplomo thing like I would never have the guts to ask for something like that. I know that I should, and that my skills and what I can do are worth that and more, and it's been proven to me again and again since then. But to ask the first time, that first time you have a big ask, and like, you're just throwing yourself out there, and if she would have said no, what, now what am I going to do? Because I'd actually done another pitch where I did, like, a webinar pitch where I had a stack and slides and stuff.

Because it was for a chamber of commerce. I wanted to charge them, like, $2,500 a month to do, like, four videos for a year. And I did the whole thing, like, if you do it, it's $2,500 a month. Or if you do it all right now, it's, you know, a whole keep. And they passed on it. You know,500 a month, or if you do it all right now, it's, you know, and they passed on it. You know, I was like, oh. So it was just one of those things where it, being around y'all, right, like being, that was my first experience being around entrepreneurs, really.

I have friends who've had businesses, but like, I felt weird for wanting to create my own thing or being selfish because i have four kids like why don't you go get a real job all those conversations that you hear and have with yourself especially when things aren't going great but it was it was like okay i i have to get it done or i have to drop out and i just even in that short amount of time i had received so much value from the people that i had been beginning to meet. And then as the content started coming out, I was like, there's no way that I could live without this after having a taste of it. Right. So that was my, uh, I just had to get it done and it worked out. It's amazing. Oh, I love that story. So cool.

All right. So since then, how have you guys watched his daily or almost daily Facebook Lives? Pretty much almost daily. Like, I'll miss something. He doesn't watch his daily Facebook Lives-ish. Yeah. Okay. He's doing what we're saying, right? He's doing it.

He's doing it. He's doing it. I see it every day. I see it. I see it coming to my feet. It pops in my thing over and over. He's doing what we're talking about. He's attracting people. He's telling stories. All the stuff we're talking about, he's been doing it. Okay, but part of it was like he had to have that emotion, that plot to a moment, and then he hit it, and then it's just like he's been running and running and running. It's been so insanely fun to watch the progress and

the growth. I mean, some of you guys know he put out an event that's coming up this weekend and sold out in like five seconds. He's like, oh, I sold out. Should I like make it bigger? I'm like, no, people should respond to you faster. It's their fault. Like sell it out because next time it'll be easier to sell out again, easier to sell out again. He did it by doing tons of value, telling stories, telling stories, telling stories, providing more value to you guys, to other entrepreneurs, other people in the community and people are noticing, right? All this stuff we talked about today, he's doing it consistently, consistently, and consistently doing it, okay? That was so cool. I don't know where to go from here. All right, I don't want to go from here. Okay, before I move into this, was it scary?

All of it scary? Yeah. Well, this is what, back to my competitive days, I didn't care who, I've played against the best players in the country at high levels. And I didn't care if you were

going to the NBA, being recruited by Duke, and things like that. Once we got in the lines, I didn't care who you were. I was going to make you look silly. You wouldn't score

a point on me, or I would just outwork you, and if you wanted to get anywhere, I was in your face the whole time. This was a whole different game for me. I remember Myron talking about, in his speech at Funnel Hacking Live, you have to stay in the game long enough to learn the game. I remember Myron talking about in his speech at Funnel Hacking Live, like,

you have to stay in the game long enough to learn the game. And I was new to this game, like brand new, like less than 12 months when I went to Funnel Hacking Live, right? And it was terrifying because, not necessarily because I didn't think I could do it. I was just worried when, how long it would take, really. Like, am I going to go and I'm just going to spin my wheels and it's going to be 15 years, like 2099, and I'm wheeling up across to get my reward from him in his wheelchair. I was like, hey, buddy, you know, that kind of thing. Or, like, I just didn't know how to make it happen quick

and that kind of stuff. So I was definitely scared, not necessarily failing because I had failed before, but I was just scared how long it was going to take. One of the best moments for me was this summer. Him and his family were driving home from, I can't remember where, but they were driving through Boise. He's like, can somebody say hi?

My kids want to meet you. My wife wants to meet you. And obviously it's always a scary thing when you haven't met someone's wife or kids. You're like, what if they hate me? And I remember it. And then I started thinking like, oh my gosh, like he spent all his money coming out here. And then he bought the thing. Like she might legitimately want to kill me.

Like I have no idea. I was a little bit nervous. And I came and met them. Met the kids. Super cool. And I said, one of the coolest things, your wife just looked at me and she said, thank you. And I was like, how cool is that? Just the coolest thing. Like, thank you for convincing, for whatever the things are to do this thing. I think sometimes as entrepreneurs, we feel the

guilt or the nervousness of like, ah, should I sell somebody something? Like, is it right? Is it wrong? It's like, you have to understand that when you're doing it, like, it's not, it's not a selfish thing for you. It's like, how do I get this person to take the action they need to do? Because most people don't do it until they make an investment. It's just the human nature. They'll keep dinking around and dinking around and do whatever it is, but until, like, they have a commitment, until they make that covenant, like Myron talked about earlier, people don't change, right? And so in any aspect of life, if he wants to make a change, like, there's got to be, there's got to be something that caused enough pain to cause the change, which is why we had the program.

We could have priced the program really cheap. I was like, no, we legitimately wanted to make a plot trip for everybody. You notice when the program signed up, not everybody who signed up is here today.

Some people fell away, some left. Things happen, right? I totally understand. But I wanted to make it painful enough that we get people to move. And there are people in this room I've joked about,

like, Nick probably shouldn't have bought that. If you'd asked him, I'd be like, no, dude, what are you thinking? Why would you do that? As a friend, like, this is weird, but I'm so grateful. Are you grateful you did? Absolutely. I think, where's Marie Larson? She's still in here? I talked about this in the podcast. Yes, she was in the same situation. Like, she should not have signed up for it. It's insane. I think I saw this text. She said, Steven, she's like, how much did you have in your bank account when you signed up for it?

$70 in the bank account, $1,800 a month bill she signed up for. Right? And then she started happening and she was freaking out. I was going in. If you guys haven't listened to the podcast, Lean In Yet, I told this whole story. But he got nervous, right? Month one hit, month two happened. She's like, oh my gosh, like I need to leave.

I can't afford this. And she talked to Stephen and Stephen's like, well, you could leave and walk away or you could lean in. And so she said, ah, okay, I'm going to lean in. And she leaned in and I've watched this, her business over the last three, four, five, six months is growing and it's growing and it's growing because she leaned in. Tough times will come every single time it comes. But like those who lean in, the ones who make it through that, who grow and who build huge businesses. Hey everybody, this is Russell again. And really quick, I just opened up a texting community, which means you can text me your questions. And right now I'm spending anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes every single day answering questions through text message to people who are on the podcast. And so I wanted you to stop everything you're doing, pull your phone out and actually text me a message. Okay. And the phone number you need to text is 208-231-3797. Once again,

it's 208-231-3797. When you text me, just say hello. And then what's going to happen is I'll add you to my phone and then they'll send you back a message where you can add me to your phone. And then we can start having conversations. On top of that, through this texting community is where I'm going to be giving out free swag, giving away free copies of my book, let you know about book signings, about times I'm coming to your local area and a whole bunch more. I just want to make sure you are on this list. On top of that, every single day I'm sending out my favorite quotes, my favorite frameworks and things you can get for free only through my texting platform. So what you need to do right now is pull out your phone and text me at area code 208-231-3797.

One more time, that's 208-231-3797. I can't wait to hear from you right now.