The Russell Brunson Show - You Asked For It! Interview With My WIFE! (Part 1 of 3)

Episode Date: August 5, 2019

The #1 request I get from our listeners is they want to hear behind the scenes from my wife's perspective on what it's like running an entrepreneurial family. On today's super special episode, part one of three, Russell and his lovely wife, Collette are interviewed by Joshua and Ashley Latimer about what it's like to be an entrepreneurial family. Here are the questions Russell and Collette answer in part one: What is the best/hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? How is it possible to aggressively pursue business dreams but still have a happy home life? And finally, they talk about one of the hardest times in their life and how they got through it together. So listen here to finally hear Collette give her first interview on what it's like to be married to Russell. Transcript - https://marketingsecrets.com/blog/229-229-you-asked-for-it-interview-with-my-wife-part-1-of-3-part-1-of-3 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With TD Direct Investing, new and existing clients could get 1% cash back. Great! That's 1% closer to being part of the 1%. Maybe, but definitely 100% closer to getting 1% cash back with TD Direct Investing. Conditions apply. Offer ends January 31, 2025. Visit td.com slash dioffer to learn more. Hey everyone, this is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. I'm so excited for the next three episodes for you guys. This is going to be so cool. All right, so the number one request I get by far from all of you guys, from all of people listening to the podcast, from all my final hackers, every final hacking live, everything people ask is, we want to hear from your wife. How in the world does she deal with you as an entrepreneur? How do entrepreneurial families

work? We get so many questions for Colette all the time. And I'm not going to lie, I'm very protective of my beautiful wife. And this is not her world. She doesn't step on stage and speak in front of thousands of people. She doesn't feel comfortable there. The first couple of years of events, she didn't even come to them. She stayed at home and supported us and took care of the family and things like that. And it was just something that I was always kind of nervous introducing her to. And the very first Fun Locking Live, I remember she came to it and she said she walked in and she saw the audience and she started bawling. She's like, oh my gosh, I had no idea that this is what was actually happening. She was like, I'm supporting you in doing these things,

but I didn't know the fruits of it. And it's fun because every year she comes to Funnel Hacking Live now. She's sitting on the front row and she's like, I don't understand half the things you guys are saying, but I just love the energy and the people and the stories. And anyway, she is my favorite person on this planet and I'm so grateful for her.

She's amazing. And I always say that you can only be as successful as your spouse will allow you to be. And so without her, there's no way that I could have become who I've become and there's no way that I could have formed this team and built ClickFunnels and all the amazing things that the fruits of all this work we've been doing

for the last decade and a half would not have been possible without my wife, Colette. And so it's funny because people always wanna hear from her and I always just tell them no, but I'm very impressed. Some of my friends, the Latimers, Josh Latimer joined my inner circle a little while ago, and he played things so well. When we went to, he came to the very first Fun Hockey Live,

and the first thing he did is he ran up and found my wife, Colette, and kind of put this in perspective. Most people, when they see me at Fun Hockey Live or the airport or anywhere, they run and they, like, push my wife aside and, like and like, Russell, and they don't even pay attention to her. And that's how you tell if you failed the test. If you didn't say hi to my wife and didn't acknowledge her, you failed the test. That's basically it. If you ever want me to call you back or pay attention, how you treat my wife is how much attention I will pay back to you. So it's kind of funny because people always just like brush her aside and just ask me the question.

It's like, oh, you guys missed it. You missed the, you know, the most important thing in the world to me. And you didn't even acknowledge it. And Josh was the opposite way. He, first thing he ran up to Colette and said, Hey, I'm here to thank you. He's like, I know the sacrifice that my wife's gone through for my business to get here. And I know the sacrifice that you're going through behind the scenes every single day. And just so grateful for you. And so because of that, my wife knew who he was. And because when he asked, can I do this thing? He'd opened a door and he'd planted the seeds. And so reluctantly, I finally said yes. And him and his wife were working on a really cool project. In fact, it's not all live yet,

but if you go to honorandfire.com, so H-O-N-O-R-A-N-D-F-I-R-E.com, Honor and Fire. As of right now, there's a family checklist system there, but they're building a whole system for entrepreneurial families. And what they're doing is super cool and it's fun and I want to share with you guys. But this interview is part of one of their training courses they have for families. And so they allowed me to be able to share with you guys. And so you guys have a chance to hear 10 questions with my wife and I talking

about entrepreneurship and families and how it all works together. So this is the very first, we're gonna break this into three episodes. Episode number one, we're gonna cover three questions that they asked. The very first question is what is the best slash hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? Number two is how is it possible to aggressively pursue business dreams, but still have a happy home life? And number three, talk about a hard time in your life. And so we're going to share those three questions on this episode. And when we come back tomorrow, we'll share with you guys episode number two.

So after this is done, pause your phone and go to honorandfire.com and go opt in. Get the family systems checklist from the Latimer family. And this will help you to grow your family, to be able to have a successful business and a family at the same time. So I want to thank the Latimer family for allowing us to share this interview with you guys. And again, go to honorandfire.com to go opt in. And with that said, we're going to cue up a theme song. When we come back, we're going to listen to the first of three segments of the interview

with my beautiful wife, Colette. 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 in this podcast. We'll give you the answer. My name is Russell Brunson, and welcome to Marketing Secrets. Hey, my friends. How the heck are you? I'm so excited that you're here hanging out with us. You get to look behind the curtain in terms of business and family in a way that I've never seen done before.

We're going to ask Colette and Russell Brunson some questions about their family, their culture, their story, and just the raw truth about like the good and the bad and how it's really hard to grow a business. It's really hard to be married. It's hard to be a parent and you mix it all together. And it's like this cocktail of potential destruction, but, but they're still there and it seems like they love each other. I'm pretty sure they love each other, so thank you Russell and Colette for being here. How are you? Doing amazing.

Glad to be here. Yeah, super excited. My wife on camera for the first time. It's exciting. It's a big deal. You're gonna owe Colette big time. We gotta think of something really epic to send her, because I know this is not in your comfort zone, but it's going to help so many people. It's inspiring to them. So without further ado, the first question is an easy one, I think. And the first question is, what is, from your perspective, the best thing and the hardest thing just about being an entrepreneurial family? Because this is a weird lifestyle. What's the good and the bad from both of your perspectives? You want to start? I'm going to start start. So I think, um, I think the best part, um, this is my, my beliefs. The best part is like all the people we have a chance to serve.

Like, that's why we do fun walking live and these events. And like, now it's funny. Cause now it's like, we're internet celebrities. Like at the airport, people come to us at the weirdest spots, like people run to us and and the consistent theme is like oh my gosh you changed my life you changed my life i think that's that's the best part i think it's fun to see the kids the kids will be like dad got spotted again which is uh i think we're at the waffle place the other day and uh some guy came up and was like russell brunson you changed my life my kids are like my dad got spotted again i think that's the best part the hardest part is like it's just hard I don't know it's hard because it's like like you said there's there's there's three big aspects there's like the

marriage there's the kids and there's the business and all of them take a lot of time we did the love language test our kids on Sunday and all except for one of our kids love language is quality time it's like quality time to go around we got so many kids you know i think the hard part is just is sometimes you get caught up in the business side it's like i gotta remember like this is what's actually most important how do i shift my focus back to them and how do we you know how do we break away from i think i think sometimes business you if when you're having success you get like the the positive feedback all the time you know and then you go home it's like oh my kids are struggling here and it's it's it's harder you don't get the immediate positive feedback so a lot of times I think it's just like okay but this is the most important part we got to go and do it

I think that's the hardest part sometimes and I think let's see the best thing for me, I guess it is seeing how lives are changed and things like that is super empowering. I remember one of the first Funnel Hacking Lives I went to, I just had Nora, and I walked into the room and I'm like, what's happening? Like these people are here for you? Being at home with all the kids sometimes, you know, he goes and he does his thing, and then I'm home. And then so my eyes are really opened at that first funnel hacking experience when, and I had a moment, I was super hormonal anyway, but just bald. And I did the ugly cry for a minute. So I'm like, wait a sec. So that's really cool. So the best thing for me is to see him chase his dream, change people's lives, but also like for being at home too, being able to be at home with my kids. And so that's really, really cool.

I think it's opposite. So the hardest thing for me sometimes is being spotty. Cause I'm like, Oh, makeup today, but whatever. It's fine. We're real people. So sometimes that's hard for me or sometimes look at super excited to see russell they're like russell brunson and then they push me out of the way or you know like oh big mistake big mistake no just kidding i don't care but yeah so sometimes it's true though if you guys want to be smart like this is why we're on this interview right now josh is a very smart man.

The first person he ever said hi to was Colette, and now we're here. And so if you were the other way around, it doesn't work that way. Oh, hello. Yeah, it was funny. We were on a plane the other day, and someone ran up and was like, like, all excited to meet me. And he's from Rexburg, which is where Colette grew up. Colette's like, oh, I'm from Rexburg.

He's like, oh, and just kept going. And it was just like, all right, I'm not going to remember your name now. Oh, who about me? I couldn't have done anything without her. And that's the reality, right? I mean, when you're doing marketing and you're the face and you're being the charismatic leader and stuff, that's one thing. But there's times when you're frustrated and you're breaking down and you're like crying. And it's hard.

And ClickFunnels wasn't always a $100 million thing. It was an idea. And Todd's hard. And ClickFunnels wasn't always a hundred million dollar thing. It was an idea and Todd's coding. And you're like, the dynamic is so hard when you're launching something and this is everything. And so it was totally authentic. The whole say thanks to Colette because ClickFunnels did change our life. Joining Inner Circle changed our life. I mean, for lots of reasons, but I know that that doesn't happen without her doing all kinds of stuff, holding you up, doing just, it's huge. And I know that other married entrepreneurs know exactly what we're talking about right now. Real quick, I forgot

to ask in the beginning, how long have you guys been married? And I think a lot of people probably know your story in general, but how long has it been? How many kids do you have? Tell us about that. So we've been married almost 17 years. It will be 17 in August and we have five kids ranging 13 to four and yeah. Okay. Yeah. We've been married 17 years in July. Yeah. That's awesome. Ready for question number two? Yes. How is it possible to aggressively pursue business dreams and still have a healthy home life? That's my question. You know, it's interesting. It's kind of weird right now. We've had a lot of friends who are in business recently who have made the split.

And I don't know. Every time that happens, it's like oh and i don't know it's it's every time that happens it's like it's like heart-wrenching for us it's like oh like you did the hard things together and then like when you're supposed to be celebrating that's when they they split it's it's tough um you know there's a there's a quote that that um that uh this guy named david omake said he said that no success can compensate for failure in the home. And that's like a thing that like rings my head all the time when I'm at work and I'm like stressing out all sorts of stuff. And then, you know, it's like kids wrestling practice happening or we gotta do this or whatever. And it's like my head, the easy thing is just like, oh, I'm too

busy. I can't do that. But then like that, that quote comes to my head, like no success can compensate for failure in the home. And a lot of times I just have to stop. Like the day's done. I got it. I got to be done. even though like there's so many things are happening there's so much stress and anxiety and like a billion emails i don't answer to in 500 voicemail you know and like all these things it's like i just have to stop and like and come home and um and i think that's that's a big part of i think the other thing that's been really good we kind of learned this early in the marriage um like i think sometimes you know there are times when you like you have to pull an all-nighter or you have to go be gone for a weekend and i think um at the

beginning of our marriage i was really bad like letting her know that until it's like 9 39 and i'm like she's like where are you like oh i'm not coming home tonight like and then that's when the friction would always happen and i think i got better like knowing like okay next week todd's coming to town there's probably gonna be a night or two that's gonna be and it's like when you were like aware of it, then it's like, then it was okay. And we were able to kind of like just figure things out. And so communication, I think is a big thing.

You know, I don't think we're the best communicators. We're still learning that part of our life. We're still learning that. But I think as we've gotten better, like that's where it's like, I'm able to go really, really aggressive because I know that, like she knows that I'm gone this time and she can support it and then vice versa. And it's just, it helps to, you know, helps to kind of even it all out. Yeah, no, I second that a hundred percent. I think communication's huge and we're not the best at it.

And it's been a lot of, I mean, sometimes, yeah, upset and sad and whatever the emotions that come they're angry not sad angry um but um but i really feel blessed like we like russell said you know there are a lot of people that do this journey and then you know sometimes it's so hard that their marriages do fail or the partnership fails um so i really feel blessed because i really feel it's also attitude. And I feel like we've portrayed a lot of positive energy to our family and to our kids. And then they kind of see that too. And I just think it's really a neat thing that as aggressively as this entrepreneurship world is and as fast and furious as Russell's brain works and goes, it's really cool for them to be like, oh, my goodness.

But for me, too, as a mom, seeing a couple of the kids, their brains kind of taking over and starting to aggressively have these dreams. And I'm like, how do I, you know, but it's really cool. Like, how do I keep that a healthy thing for them and discourage them and be like, wait, wait, wait, let's do these other things first. It's hard sometimes when Dallin, like, has idea like you're your homework yeah like you know it's like i want to do this you have to do your homework you have to like not just them while it's like yeah it's tough

well i know you guys are believers too and that's you know like a consistent theme like with a lot of the high achievers that we're going to be interviewing for this is like, that's an anchor. I know that's a huge part of your life as well, right? We love Jesus and we're a Christian family and stuff. Question number three, I'm going to ask you about a time when it was really hard, which maybe that never happened for you. But, you know, talking about love language uh i think there's there should be a book called the fight language too ashley's language is passive aggressive so like she doesn't talk i'm getting better when she when she doesn't talk i tell her to stop yelling at me

because i say that that's the equivalent of yelling it's just a different methodology yes you should totally write that book that'd be the greatest right so. It's just a different methodology. Yes. You should totally write that book. That'd be the greatest. Right. So tell us about a time on your journey, whenever, whatever comes to mind, when it was really hard. Maybe there's friction. Maybe it's financial uncertainty.

God knows you've went through a lot of that. And how did you get through it? Okay, let's see. Hey, Funnel Hack hackers. I want to talk about building your business. You've got the idea, the passion, the drive, but here's the thing. Setting up the legal stuff can feel like a total roadblock. That's why you need Northwest registered agent. They're like the dream team for business formation, which is 10 clicks in 10 minutes. You can build your entire business identity. I'm talking about formation paperwork, a real business address, premium mail forwarding, and even a local phone number so you can keep your home address private and stay safe.

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Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. And to get started, LinkedIn is offering you $100 credit for your next campaign. Go to linkedin.com slash clicks to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com slash clicks. Terms and conditions may apply. LinkedIn is the place to be, to be. There's been a lot of it. It's really a hard journey. I want to say I was, I'm going to start with Ellie. Like when I was pregnant with Ellie, I feel like I was kind of struggling with my identity a little bit and

things like that. I was like going with this, but I think back, our marriage was kind of struggling and was it a seven year niche? No, maybe it wasn't. Okay. It was a seven year niche and I was really going through a funk and he was going through a funk and we were trying to figure out things and you guys, therapy is amazing. Like do it. So hard times through marriage and then business. So I would say it's good to have coaches.

It's good to have like Tony Robbins changed my life. Like I went to that UPW that I came home on cloud number 10,000 and I feel like I came home a better wife and mom. And I feel like you need to redo that because I feel like then all of a sudden you go down that slippery slope again. So relationship-wise, I feel like 2007-ish. But then business-wise, 2010, we took a pretty big hit. But communication. So I didn't really know.

And so I'm like, let's go to Disneyland. Let's go to Disneyland. And he's like, we're broke. And I'm like, what? I thought we were rich. I so I'm like, let's go to Disneyland. Let's go to Disneyland. He's like, we're broke. And I'm like, what? I thought we were rich. I was trying to protect her from this one day. I can totally relate. Totally relate. Sometimes I was like, Oh, I need to, I told my mom, I went to, sorry, this is about you guys.

I went to the ATM and I was like, mom, I don't know if I can get $40 out to go to the garage, to a garage sale. And she was like, okay. So I look at my bank account and it's like multiple figures, like thousands and thousands. And I was like, she's like, so are we good? I'm like, yep, I guess we're good. She was just like, you never know. We could go buy a house maybe. I don't know.

It's so exciting. That world yeah i think i was thinking about that for me the hardest is and i showed i shared the story from walking live and it's funny because afterwards click came up and that hit me remember you're like i didn't do all of that i'm like i was trying to protect you and we're a partnership he held a lot of information from me and so at that it was dallas i believe and i was bawling my eyeballs out so I'm like you were going through that alone and that's not okay yeah so I was trying to keep it a secret from her because I I'm the man I don't want to like true you know and like I was always we always had enough money I know like back then like basically we got a paycheck every single month that covered like all of our living expenses and I was like as long as that doesn't

shift then her world doesn't have to shift at all so I didn't want to like put any stress or stress or pressure on her and the kids it's like i knew like that if it ever got worse like that i didn't like lower that you know then i'd bring it up i was like i can't listen i'd go every single day and just you know we had um man it was horrible we lay off like 70 80 people in one day we like lost all of our merchant accounts we had it was just battle after battle it was like a year of just oh like the most stress and pressure ever um but i think one of the most impactful moments of that whole journey um i don't remember where it was in the timeline all i remember is that i was trying to take all this pressure and this burden myself because if i give it was my fault i'd messed up and and that was not just keeping

it from her but it's keeping it from God, keeping it from everything. Every one morning I was just like in the room and I was just, it was a disaster. It was a disaster. And I, I didn't know what to do. And I didn't want to go in the office, but I had to, and like all these things. And I was just like in tears. And I just remember, I don't remember this. I remember you grabbing me and like pulling me to my knees and, um, and you're like, we need to pray right now. And, um, I think you prayed for me and prayed for the business and prayed for everything and it was one of those moments where i was just like i'm not

alone you know i have my wife i have god i have other things and i have to like i need to rely i can't keep relying on myself and that was like really the turning point um for me and so that was definitely the hardest part and then the probably the coolest thing that came from that and helped me to be more, more open. Thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, that, that is heavy stuff. That's exactly what we're looking at. Cause I know that that's the case for everybody in their own way. Like that's the reality. Cause we, when we're front stage, you gotta be doing the thing, right? But there's all this stuff happening behind the scenes. It's just incredible. Did you have something you wanted to add to that, Colette? No, I was, it was funny because I was thinking of that exact same story. Like when I grabbed him

and I pulled him down, I'm like, well, we need to pray. Like, anyway, so it was really cool that you shared that, felt that energy. Want more marketing secrets? If so, then go get your copies of my two bestselling books. Book number one is called Expert Secrets, and you can get a free copy at expertsecrets.com. And book number two is called Dotcom Secrets, and you can get your free copy at dotcomsecrets.com. Inside these two books, you'll find my top 35 secrets that we've used to become the fastest growing non-VC backed SaaS startup company in the world.