The Russell Brunson Show - Writing Retreat... AKA: The New HACK-A-THON

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

As I'm preparing for our writers retreat, I want to explain the value, the purpose, and why you should be doing these in your business as well. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ClubHouseWithRussell.com Magnetic Marketing Russell Brunson discusses the concept of a writing retreat he's excited about on his Marketing Seekers podcast. He draws inspiration from past experiences, like the hackathons he used to do with his team when ClickFunnels was launched. These intensive sessions of focused work and collaboration led to the birth of ClickFunnels. Now, as they prepare for ClickFunnels 2.0, Brunson wants to replicate that level of focus and creativity. He shares insights into the process he's adopting, inspired by the Harmon Brothers' approach. They book a two-day writing retreat for every viral video project they undertake. During these retreats, three different writers work on three different scripts, each presenting their ideas to the team. The scripts are refined through iterative feedback sessions until they reach a final version. Brunson emphasizes the importance of the script in marketing and sales, highlighting that it's often more critical than the product or offer itself. He encourages listeners to consider implementing similar focused retreats in their businesses to elevate their marketing efforts from "good to great." He also discusses the significance of defining the problem your business solves and mentions seeking out market data to support arguments and create compelling core stories. Overall, Brunson's podcast episode offers practical advice and insights into improving marketing strategies through focused collaborative efforts and data-driven storytelling. 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. What is going on, everybody? This is Russell Brunson.

Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today, I want to talk to you guys about something I'm really excited for. I'm driving downtown to downtown Boise. We're going to Bruce Wayne's penthouse, and we are going to be doing a writing retreat for the next two days. So we'll talk about what that is, why we're doing it and how you can model this for your business as well. 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'm pumped for today. It's something we've been talking about internally for almost a year now, doing a writing retreat. And I'm going to tell you kind of the backstory behind it because the concept and the principle of this is really, really cool. And I'm going to start trying to do this more often in our business. And we've done versions of it.

Like if you look at when we first launched ClickFunnels, me and Todd and Dylan used to do, we used to call these hackathons, where they'd fight a boy scene, we'd spend a week where we literally like wouldn't sleep or do anything other than just work hard for a week and get stuff done. And, you know, it was a lot, it was, it was a lot, but that's how ClickFunnels was born in, in these times of concentrated, insane amounts of effort and work and collaboration in a small group. Um, and, uh, I actually missed those, like, ah, I haven't done those in a long time, but we used to do them probably once a quarter. So Todd and Dylan would fly out here and we'd lock ourselves in a room and tell our wives that we weren't going to be able to hang out for a little bit and our kids and tell them

we love them. And then we'd go and just work, um, for like a week straight. And it was, it was awesome. But, um, we haven't done this for a long time, which is cool. I get it. Life's changed. Things are different. But as we've been preparing for ClickFunnels 2.0, I know there's a lot of stuff to get done.

And I'm sure you're the same way. You have a big project coming up. There's a million different tasks and things like that. And if you are like me or like most small entrepreneurs, especially if you're a solo entrepreneur, you are the copywriter, you're the designer, you're the funnel builder, you're the product creator, you're the, like you're doing all the things, right? It's a lot of times where, um, we're like shift, um, shifting our focus and tasks back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, uh, which is fine and understandable and necessary, but as you know, like great things happen in times of like radical imbalance, right? It's when you're focusing on one thing for a long time where connections start being made and ideas come out and things like that. And so, um, for, for us, that's been always kind of hard thing. Now that we've got a team of 400 plus people and it's, it's a big operation, like just to get everyone coordinated

and to focus on a thing and everyone's kind of in their lanes doing their things. It's been really, really good. But, um, as you know, good is the enemy to great and we're creating something great. ClickFunnels 2.0 is the future. It's the future of, I mean, I don't want to be arrogant, but I think it's the future of the internet, uh, at least the important part of the internet, which is, you know, entrepreneurs serving their, their people, which all the other websites are pretty much pointless. Like the only ones that actually matter are the, you know, funnels. Like, come on down.

Anyway. Um, so sorry, let me sit back. So I want to talk about the, just this concept of the writing retreat and where I learned it from. It was the very first time we actually hired the Harmon Brothers. And the Harmon Brothers, I think, have done four videos for us now. And their process is really unique and cool. And so we're kind of modeling it for the next two days here. But, and I'd heard about it before we ever had a chance to work with them.

I heard rumors of like, yeah, how to do the squatty potty one and stuff like that. And so when we finally got ahold of them, got to know them, we got to do our, we got to do a project with them. Like I was so just insanely excited to see the process. And so what they do is, um, they book a two day riding retreat for every video, viral video thing that they're going to make. And they book them all up in, um, Sundance, Utah. They're, they're all out of like the Provo Orm area for those who know where that's at.

So they go up the Canyon and there's, there's, um, this really cool place, Sundance, you know, your first Sundance, Sundance film festivals there, uh, Robert Redford, like that's anyway. So there's up there in Sundance, it's like a ski hill, tons of cabins and stuff like that. So every single time they rent a cabin for two days and then they get the people who own the product to come up there and they actually live in the cabin. So like we'd go up there and we'd sleep in the cabin for two days or whatever. And then prior to us showing up,

we do a big brain dump where we talk about the business and the product and all the things. And we kind of like just brain dump everything about the project to them. And then they would go and they actually hire three different writers to write three different scripts, which is kind of cool.

So I remember when we did the very first video with them, the script we ended up using was this one of the gold prospectors. Some of you guys have probably seen that video. But they had three different pitches. One writer wrote a whole one based on this magician. And it was the magician trying to explain funnels. And it was really cool. The second one wrote one basically,

kind of like if you've ever seen the video Kid President, it was kind of like that, like two kids, and it was these kids explaining the whole concept of funnel. And the third one was the gold prospector. And so these writers, before they start the writing tree, all three of them have a chance to write their version of the sales video they think is going to be best. Then they come back, and at the writing retreat,

we sit down with them and talk, and then we have a chance right at the gate to hear each of the three writers read their script. So writer number one explains, you know, this is my motivation, my creation, this is why I created it, and why, and then they read their thing, and we laugh, and we, yeah, it's really funny.

Then writer two tells his inspiration, and then reads it, and then writer three, same thing. So you get three different versions of the script. And all three of them, at least for us, were amazing. They're all like, these are so good. Like, it was crazy. And so we read it. We got excited.

And then basically, it's like, you have to pick which direction you want the most. I remember for me at first, I felt so guilty. I'm like, oh, all the writers are so cool. All the stories are so cool. I don't want to like, I felt guilty. I don't want to like, to, you know, just to take one or just, you know, pick one. I didn't want to like say no to the other two, but that was kind of the process they wanted. So eventually we picked, okay, we're going to use this one. We decided to go with the gold

prospector. So they came back and then they read the gold prospector again. So we all got to hear it again. So, okay, this is what I'm doubling down on. We said, yes. And okay, cool. And then the writers, they literally leave the room and then they go into like a back bedroom or back area of the, of the cabin. And they spent like two hours taking that script and then rewriting it. So they'll take, you know, the core script. And, but then, you know, every, every script had funny jokes and funny things and funny angles and cool hooks. And like, so then all three writers were all three, all folks on this one script and they start weaving things in and adding things in and, and tighter and tighter and tighter so after about two

hours you know us and the the product owners out you know hanging out eating food just waiting and then they come back out okay here's a new version of script and they read the new one and it is like 10 times funnier now right to read it we start laughing and like cool like what'd you like what you didn't like and then other feedback other ideas and so we you know we brain dump on them for you know an hour or so and then then they go, okay, cool. And they break off and they go back in the room and they start writing again. And then, um, and they come back and then they present it again and they do this back and forth and back and forth for two full days. Um, and then when it's done, we have this final script that we're just like, this is

the greatest thing ever. Like there's no way this could be better. Right. And then take that and go and produce it. And so that's the way the writing retreats worked. And then they did the first time they did another time and they kept, they kept doing this. Um, every time we did a video with them and every video they've done, that's the process they go through, which is why their scripting is so solid. I've worked with other production companies and things who focus a lot on the production or on the videos or on the, you know, all these things. I've never seen somebody focus as much on the scripting, which is, as you know, and I, that's the most important part. The script, the copy, whatever you want to call it,

is more important than the product. It's more important than the offer. It's more important than the funnel. It's more important. It's the most important part. Well, maybe not more important than the offer. The offer and the copy, they're hand in hand.

They work together. Sorry. Sorry, offer. I didn't want to offend you there. But a really good irresistible offer and copy that sells that offer is the most important part. You can plug that in any funnel, it's going to work, but that's the most important part.

They'd spend so much time on it. I think for most of us, and it depends, everyone's business is different levels. Sometimes we'd hire a copywriter and they'd go write it or I'd write the copy or we'd try to do something or it's like, oh crap, the launch is happening in two days now. I click go on a camera and Russell, record a sales video. And luckily for me, I've been doing this now for over 20 years.

So I've written enough copy, I know enough copy that I can click go on a camera and I can write. I can, from the top of my head, speak pretty good copy. Not as good as like if I was to script it out and make it perfect, but I can get pretty close, at least to my warm audience where I can get most of my warm audience to buy it. But as you start going further out, trying to get colder and colder audiences, your scripting is the key and having it really, really good. And so the reason why I'm telling you this and why I'm so excited to drive down there is that with ClickFunnels

2.0 launch coming up, you know, our default would be spending all this time and energy, like building the software, getting it perfect, all that kind of stuff. And then launch day comes, we're like, oh, we need to build a funnel for it. Oh, we need to, you know, and then we start like thinking about those things later and they, you know, and then what's the email secret? What are they going to get? How's it going to work? And like all the rest of that stuff we think about secondarily. Sorry, my Tesla's yelling at me.

We think about it secondarily. And then we put it out there and, you know, we do it good enough where our warm audience will buy. And then we try to move to cold audiences and beyond. And it's not right. It's not correct. It doesn't get people to buy and stuff like that. And so then we're tweaking it and changing it and all these kinds of things. And so what I wanted to do was step back and say, okay, let's, let's plan this today. Like what is like, what's the

hook? What's the offer? Like, where are we going with two point? Like what's the right messaging? What problems do we actually solve? What are the different things? Like how are we trying to speak to this audience? You know, so what's the, what's the copy and what's the video sell the video going to be? What's the video going to be? What's the long form sales? What are the email sequences? What are the affiliate copy? What's our copy?

Were you in challenge before? Are we not doing challenge? All the things want to map out with the writers so we know exactly what it is. And then we're going to start actually writing and getting things back and getting feedback and going back and forth and back and forth and kicking this process off. And now then I can, for two days, can for two days come in here and like focus my brain and energy on trying to like, you know, do what I can to help everybody here, but I can step back and then the writers can spend the next, you know, obviously two days concentrated

time, but then the next two or three months, you know, um, working on these things and perfecting them. So when we're done, we have all the assets, all the things, and we have something we can use to, to really rock and roll. Um, and so that's the point is riding a retreat. Now, what's fun about it is like, as we planned this and got through it, you know, everyone else in the company is like, well, I want to do a retreat. And Todd's done, I mean, with the development team is building ClickFunnels 2.0.

He's done hackathons. These guys all the time, they're different departments, like people working on the e-commerce features fly out and spend a week with Atlanta with Todd and people working on on the funnel builder or the editor, they've been doing these meetups. But on the marketing side, this has been the first time. So this is the first writing retreat, and we're excited. And then all the funnel builders and designers are like, we need a funnel design retreat. And so I think the next thing we're going to do is that. We're going to focus on the structure, the design, and the elements of the funnel to make sure that that's flawless and perfect.

And then potentially the ad team will come out and do the same thing with the ad team and like creating the ads and the creative and those kind of things. But doing these things where at least on my side, I can spend two days focused and giving everybody the right direction as opposed to, again, typically in our business, I'm sure that you're like me. We're juggling two bajillion things and trying to do them all. And it's really hard to get all of the, you know, the brain dump and the time and attention you need to really make something great. And so I want to encourage you guys, you know, they say

that good is the enemy to great. And I think most of you guys, if you're having success, you're doing things really good, obviously. But if you want to get to the next level, if you want to go from a million to 10, 10 to a hundred, a hundred to a billion, which is the, the path that I'm sprinting on right now, like you have to, you have to a billion, which is the path that I'm sprinting on right now, you have to become better, right? You have to have more focus, more quality, more things on the places that matter the most. So that's what I recommend for you guys is to think about that.

Okay, how can you do a version of this for your company? Can you do a writing retreat? Can you do a funnel building retreat? Can you do an ad retreat? Can you do a development retreat? Can you do whatever it is with your people? And I'm not bringing the entire team together. That would be 400 people. It'd be like a little mini Fun Hockey Live, but all the people are going to be writing or here. Um, that way they can hear

it straight from my mouth. Like the vision, the direction, like all those kinds of things, as opposed to having to hear it watered down through five or six levels. You know what I mean? So anyway, there you go. Call them hackathons, call them writing retreats, call them whatever you want, but, um, find some time to, to take what you're doing and make it, take it from good to great. Like I said, I had a chance to see it firsthand now four times with the Harmon brothers and it is amazing. Like it's, it's funny, like whenever we read the first version of the script, I'm like, that's perfect. Let's just go produce it. Like there's no way it can get better than that. Like it's flawless. And then by, you know, by lunchtime, I'm like, Oh my gosh, how'd you make it better?

Like this flawless, let's go produce it. And they're like, no. Like it's flawless. And then by, you know, by lunchtime, I'm like, oh my gosh, how'd you make it better? Like this is flawless, let's go produce it. And they're like, no, we're not done. And then, you know, at dinnertime, like here's the next one. Like, oh, there's no way it can get better. Let's produce this. And like, we're only halfway through, you know, and it keeps going and going and going.

And it's like, man, things can really go from good to great if you'll put in the focus, time and energy and effort. So this is the process we're testing out. I know Agora's got a version that they do. It's a little different, but, um, you know, Agora, multi-billion dollar company, this is the same process they do with their writers. Um, in fact, they've got a really good book. If you want a book to kind of see how they structure, it's called copy logic. It's how the writers write together and how they brainstorm and feedback and give, you know, give ideas without like talking negative

or talking down, but like they create an environment where writers can all be creative together as opposed to them like fighting against each other. And so that book copy logic, I don't think it's sold more than a dozen copies and probably most of them were to me. Um, of course not good at selling their, like their books on like how they do their copy and stuff. They write them and they're amazing, but they don't really have a channel to sell those things through. So a copy logic is a really good one about how they, they structure their writing things, but it would work for anything from ad, an ad retreat. It would work from, um, from a funnel builder retreat, like just the way they structure the creativity and things like that. Another great book that Gora put out is called great leads,

um, which is like the lead of a video or sales video, sales letter, things that are like the initial, the first 20%, like that lead, that's the key. Like how do you create that lead that really grabs somebody? So, all right, that's what I got. Hope you guys are awesome. Oh, can I add one more thing? Oh, sorry. I've been focusing on getting all the research prior to this, right? So a couple of things I've been doing to prepare for this. And I kind of felt I should have done more prep work with my team about this, but the first hour or so this morning is going to be focused on this. But, um, for us, a couple of things, number one is if you read the book, uh, play bigger, which is all about being a category King. Um, you know, this is what we're,

we've done. We're trying to double down on reestablishes. Like how do you become the category King? But we had for the, our, um, I have a mastermind group called category Kings, but for our category Kings, uh, mastermind, um, we had, uh, one of the authors come and speak to us. And the biggest thing he said is like, he's like, if you can define the problem you solve, that's how you develop your category. It's like, what's the problem you solve? And that seemed like a really simple thing.

Oh, it's just like, we help people build funnels. I was like, that the problem? Like, well, no, that's not the actual problem. That's like the solution. What's the problem? And he spent like an entire day with us and all the category kings, trying to figure out what our problem was, which I thought was gonna be super easy. It was not.

It took us, I mean, the entire day and I didn't know what it was. And then we went back and brainstormed and talked about it. And then we did a meeting with, uh, you know, Todd and Dave and Brett and John and Dan, like our core team. And we spent like three or four hours again on like, just trying to solve like, what is our problem? And we finally got down to like, what I think is our problem problem which i'm going to present today to everybody on the writer entry because i need our writers to understand like the the problem that we actually solve is this right

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for a second. The ultimate sales machine. Um, and, uh, Chet passed away a couple of years ago, but his daughter, Amanda Holmes took over the company. And, um, one of the principles that Chet talks about in his book is called a core story. And so, uh, they had a, they have a side part of the company where they actually will build a core story for you. And so, uh, I messaged Amanda who she's literally like the coolest person ever. And I was like, I want to do a core story. I want you guys to do a core story for me. And she was like, it was funny. Cause she was like, okay, if we can jump on like a 15, 20 minute call, I got some slides to go over with you. I was like, I know you can try to sell me. Um, I just want to wire you the money. Like, I mean,

like I don't need to be sold. She's like, no, but we can jump on. Like, I literally, like, I just want to send you money so you can do this for me. She's kind of laughing. She's like, okay, here's the wire info. Like how much is it? I think it was, actually I have no idea. I think it was 25 or 30 grand or something like that. But, um, what they, what they do, uh, with the core story is they try to figure out like, like your stadium picture course, like what is your thing? And so they don't do it from a standpoint, like most of us who are copywriters and marketers, like we're telling our own stories and we're trying to like how we found the thing and like epiphany bridge stories and all that stuff I always talk about. But what a core story is, it's fascinating. It's all, it's not driven

on like your story, your experiences, your case studies, testimonials. It's, it's written based on market data. It's like, um, like when you look at the actual data, uh, like what's happening in the world, like it's all about that. So so you pay them they could do like a bajillion interviews with you which is you know are not my favorite part but they they go through all and then from there they figure out all these like hypotheses of where they think there's going to be data that's going to support arguments and find things and so um it's crazy and then from that they go and they find all the data they bring it all back and they give you just like you know a billion pages of all the the stuff the stats the things to prove that like that you things to prove your case,

which is really cool. And then secondarily, they actually write the course story for you, which is this thing you can use as your elevator pitch or stadium pitch. And unfortunately, the course story wasn't done before this. I was hoping it would be so we could have it for the ride and retreat. But what we did have back is all of the market research and the data. So we're able to bring that to this meeting as well. I'm like, hey, here's the stats,

here's the numbers, here's all the stuff. So we can incorporate not just our own gut feelings, not just our own stories, not just our own success stories, but also the market data, the market research and weaving those things into it as well. So that way we have not just the emotional arguments, but the logical arguments as well

that we can weave into the copy and the videos and the sales page and all the things we're doing. So anyway, I don't know about you, but I'm pumped about it. It's exciting. There's so much fun stuff happening. Um, and that's what's going on for the next two days. So I'm almost downtown and that's what I'll be, uh, we'll do with our team. So there you go, you guys, there's some ideas, some thoughts, um, hopefully, you know, amongst all these ideas that, you know, two or three things you can pull away. Like, I think you should do a writing retreat with your team.

You should do a funnel retreat. You should do an ad retreat where you can focus on something and make it go from good to great. I think you should try to figure out the problem that you actually solve as a business. I think that you should figure out your core story. If you don't want to pay Amanda a ton of money, then go read The Ultimate Sales Machine. Read the section on core story

and figure out your own core story. Or if you're like me and you just want to just buy your way to the end, go throw some money into Mad Dead. She'll do all the work for you. She's amazing. So anyway, there you go.

That's almost a 20 minute podcast, you guys. That's what you get when I got a long drive downtown. I've got a long drive home tonight and one downtown tomorrow again. So maybe we'll get a couple more of these longer ones for you. I hope that you're all doing amazing. I hope your businesses are thriving and you're able to get a hold of the people that you've been called to serve so you can change their lives. And I hope that the marketing secrets and ideas. I hope your businesses are thriving, that you're able to get a hold of the people that you've been called to serve so you can change their lives.

And I hope that the marketing secrets and ideas and things I try to share with you here are helping to expand your mind and expand your reach and get you to find those people who are looking for you. So I appreciate you guys for being entrepreneurs who serve your audiences at the top of your abilities. I respect you guys. I admire you guys.

You're the reason why I do this at this point in my career and my life, and I'm grateful for you. So with that said, thanks so much, and I will talk to you guys all admire you guys you're the reason why I do this at this point in my career in my life and I'm grateful for you so with that said thanks so much and I will talk to you guys all soon

bye everybody thank you for listening to the Marketing Secrets Podcast if you've loved this episode then please take a screenshot on your phone and post it to Facebook Instagram

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