Russell Brunson: How To Build a Mass Movement | 131

[00:00:00] Russell: It blows my mind if anyone ever got this, that would be a huge success.

[00:00:03] Nathan: Russell is the co-founder of ClickFunnels, which grew to over 100,000 users without a dollar of outside funding.

[00:00:09] Russell: Movement comes when the guide comes in and basically says, “This doesn’t work anymore. It’s over.” Like, “Here’s the new thing.”

[00:00:14] And that’s what gets people to move and to mobilize for something new.

[00:00:17] Nathan: Russell Brunson spent years studying every major movement in history, religion, politics, and corporate. 5,000 of them show up to his live events every year, some with his logo tattooed on their arm.

[00:00:28] Russell: Every single one of the movements, they all had three core things that were essential for the movement to actually happen.

[00:00:32] The first is there’s a person, a guide, and I call this, like, the attractive character. Number two, the guide offered people what I call a new opportunity, and the third thing is- Yeah, I love that.

[00:00:43] Nathan: In this episode, Russell walks through the framework that he used to build the movement, that makes people stop thinking of themselves as customers and start thinking of themselves as part of something bigger.

[00:00:52] Russell: This is one of the things, like, I wish that somebody would’ve told me this when I first got started in my business. If I could start over from scratch now, I would not have-

[00:01:02] Nathan: Russell, I’m so excited to have you on.

[00:01:03] Russell: I’m excited to be here too, man.

[00:01:05] Nathan: All right, so we’re gonna teach about how to turn followers into a movement. Give people a taste of what it’s looked like in your life and business to build movements at scale.

[00:01:12] Russell: Yeah. So for me, it’s funny, um, the first time I ever thought about this was before I launched, uh, my company, ClickFunnels, and I actually was at a, a network marketing event.

[00:01:21] And I was sitting in this room, and there’s, like, 5,000 or 6,000 people, and I was watching something that didn’t make any sense to me. All these people are getting on stage, and they’re talking, and they’re crying, and I was kind of confused. And I’m sitting here for, like, three days of this event watching it, waiting for them to teach content, and, and none of that was happening.

[00:01:37] And the guy sitting next to me, his name is David Fry, David, he kind of nudged me. He’s like, “Do you, do you see what they’re doing?” I’m like, “No, I have no idea what’s happening here.” And he’s like, “They didn’t build a company. They built a movement.” I remember him saying that, I was like, it just clicked in my head.

[00:01:48] I was like, “Oh my gosh,” like, all these people here feel part of this company. It wasn’t like there’s me and there’s this company. Like, they felt like they were part of this, this thing. And, uh, about the times when we were building ClickFunnels, I remember thinking, like, my company is software, which by itself software’s kind of boring, and like, they may- Yeah, it’s like sterile

[00:02:04] yeah, that maybe they’re gonna use it, and it’s a tool, and they’ll be happy about it. But I was like, “I wanna create what they did. How do you actually create a movement where, again, it’s not my company or my software, but, like, this is our, this is our community. This is our so-,” you know, like making it something bigger.

[00:02:17] And so I started trying to study, like, all the movements throughout time that, that had success, right? I was looking at, like, uh, at, like, religious movements and, like, those, and I looked at, like, political movements. I looked at businesses, and, and then I looked at, like, really negative, like how do cults and, and like, you know, things that normally I wouldn’t have looked at.

[00:02:33] Like, how do they do it? And I, I started looking at it, and over time I saw, like, they all had a very similar pattern. And so when we started building ClickFunnels, I started, like, just doing some of these things. And so map out what those things all are, they had a big impact. And I look at, you know, ClickFunnels now a decade later, like, we’ve got, you know, 100,000 plus people on our platform.

[00:02:51] We’ve got, we do events. We get 5,000, 6,000 people to show up. People showing up, like, with our logos tattooed. We got people going crazy. Like, like, people where it’s like they’re part of this thing, right? Yeah. They call themselves… They have their own names. They call themselves funnel hackers, and it’s like it’s so much different than just, like, I have a software company that you could use if you want to, you know?

[00:03:07] And so for me, like, my focus, you know, I have a business partner focused on software. I focus on, like, how do we build this community and this tribe where it’s, where people feel like they’re part of what we’re doing, not- Mm-hmm … you know, just a, just a, a follower or an influencer. Like, it’s, it’s like something more special.

[00:03:20] So that’s kind of what it is, and it’s changed everything. We’ve made, you know, built a huge company because of it, huge community, and I had a chance to serve tons of people as a movement. Yeah.

[00:03:28] Nathan: That’s amazing. And so I think we make it relevant for someone who’s maybe at, like, half a million a year in revenue, and- Yeah

[00:03:35] they’re really earning an incredible living as an educator. Yeah. But then they’re saying, “Hey, I wanna take this to a much bigger scale.” Like, how do you think about, about that?

[00:03:42] Russell: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s what this whole thing’s about because again, it’s, it’s like- And I see this all the time, people that are creators or they’re building courses or coaching, whatever, and it’s like, it’s almost like teacher-student, like that’s the, the relationship, right?

[00:03:53] Where it’s like, “I’m learning from this person.” And then the shifting from the movement is like, is like, it’s no longer like this relationship where I’m gonna teach you something, but it’s like, like you’re part of this community. Right. And you can think about like in, I think everyone in their life, there’s certain like movements that they’re part of.

[00:04:08] Like I was a wrestler growing up, and there’s definitely like, there’s wrestlers, like this is who we are. And then, you know, my faith, like we’re, like there’s, like we’re these kind of people. And like, and it’s like if you look at those areas of your life, think about how you look at it differently. Like I don’t, like yes, there’s my wrestling coach and these, these guys who I look up to in the wrestling world, but like, but I’m a wrestler.

[00:04:25] That’s who I am. This is my identity. And like, and it’s like that’s the shift. You don’t want people looking at you as like, “Oh, this is just my coach or my educator,” because eventually there’s another coach comes along, or a different educator, or something like that. And, and so you can make a good living, but th- when you start shifting this where, where like these become your people and it’s your, like bigger than that, that’s when it, it, it gives you the ability to grow, um, faster and better, not necessarily like by just buying ads, but by this community that, that grows organically because of, of who the people are.

[00:04:54] Nathan: I love that. I’m, I’m in. Let’s, let’s dive in. Okay . How do we-

[00:04:58] Russell: All

[00:04:58] Nathan: right. What, what goes into this? You’ve got a pyramid here.

[00:05:00] Russell: We got a pyra- this is not a pyramid scheme, I swear. Uh… We have a triangle. Yeah, we have a triangle. It’s, it’s just a triangle. Okay, so when I was going through all these things, again, I was studying all these different groups, from religious movements to businesses and everything.

[00:05:11] Uh, when I started doing this, I started mapping out like the pattern and I saw that every single one of the movements throughout time that we’re aware of, that we can see and we can study, they all had three core things that were essential for the movement to actually happen. So the first one, if you wanna draw the first one.

[00:05:24] Okay. The first is there’s like, uh, a person, a guide. Like there’s- Okay … um, in my community- Can I, can

[00:05:29] Nathan: I do it, just do a stick figure?

[00:05:30] Russell: Just make a stick figure, yeah. Okay. I love stick figures Um, in my community I call these the attractive character. Yeah. So it’s like it’s the person interacting with the audience, right?

[00:05:39] Nathan: Okay.

[00:05:39] Russell: Um, you don’t see big movements that don’t have a head. They’re just not there. Yeah. Okay. Like, there’s always… You look at Apple, there’s Steve Jobs. Like, we know who that person is. Like, there’s, he’s like someone we’re looking at, we’re following. Like, there, there’s always kind of that, that person.

[00:05:52] Mm-hmm. Um, and so again, I call this like the attractive character or the guide or- Okay … whatever you wanna call it. And my guess is most of the people who, again, are half a million dollars a year, uh, in business, this is probably what’s the core thing that they’re actually really good at. Like, I, I’m an influencer, I got a following, I’m a guide, I’m taking people on a journey, I’m helping them.

[00:06:09] And so that’s kind of the first core element- Okay … that all of them had. Um, and again, think about religious movements. Like every major religion, there’s a person . You know, you got, you got Christ, you got Muhammad, you’ve got, uh, you know, whatever it is, that there’s always somebody that’s at the front of it.

[00:06:21] Business, the same way. Cults, the same way. Yep. Like, there’s always a guide.

[00:06:25] Nathan: It’s like a, it’s a universal thing.

[00:06:27] Russell: Yeah.

[00:06:27] Nathan: And you just accept it and

[00:06:28] Russell: and- Yeah. And it’s for humans ’cause it’s like we connect with somebody, and so there’s always like the leader of the movement. And usually the guide, like there, there’s like they have their origin story.

[00:06:35] They’ve got, there, there’s things like people connect with that like draw them- Mm … and get people to kind of follow the guide. Okay? Okay. So that’s the first one. Number two, the next thing that, um, that every single mass movement offered is they didn’t offer… A lot of people create offers to people and they, they create, uh, what we call an improvement offer.

[00:06:52] Like, “I’m gonna help you be better or faster or stronger.” And no movement led with an improvement offer. Um, every single, uh, movement throughout time in history, the guide offered people what I call new opportunity.

[00:07:05] Nathan: Okay.

[00:07:06] Russell: If you wanna draw a little dude there and have him like holding out something like, uh, on a, on a silver platter.

[00:07:11] So this is what’s, this is like probably the one that’s, um, um, the most confusing for people when I explain this, but it’s like one of the most essentials. Like you think about Steve Jobs. When Steve Jobs came, he’s building Apple, so he’s the guide, everyone’s following him. Yep.

[00:07:24] Nathan: And this is a new opportunity?

[00:07:25] Russell: Yes, new opportunity Like when he came out, he didn’t come to his audience and be like, “All right, everybody, you know, uh, I created a CD that doesn’t hold 12 songs, it holds 50 songs.” Like, that would be an improvement offer. Yeah. And people are like, “Okay.” You know? Instead, he comes in there and he s- gives it in front of everybody, all the share- shareholders, the streaming everyone, he’s like, “Hey guys, you know, this is a CD, it holds 12 things.”

[00:07:47] He’s like, “We don’t use it anymore.” And out of his back pocket pulls out the iPod. Boom, you got 1,000. Like, it’s not a better version CD, it’s completely new opportunity, right? Mm-hmm. Same thing with the phone when he did the iPhone. It was, it was not like, “This is the better phone.” This is like, okay, this is all these things, and it’s- Yeah

[00:08:02] it’s a new opportunity. And so a lot of times, especially in the creator economy, a lot of times I see guides and they’re trying to teach somebody like, “Here’s a better way to do the thing.” And I think one, one of the problems is that’s, that’s how business was taught forever. Like, when I was in college, I remember a business class, they’re like, “Uh, if you wanna be successful, you gotta just build a better mousetrap.”

[00:08:22] Like, that’s what- Mm … they taught everybody. Is

[00:08:23] Nathan: it 10% better? Sweet. Great.

[00:08:25] Russell: Yeah. Go and sell it.

[00:08:26] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:08:26] Russell: And but you look at movements are never created on that, right? They, in fact, one of the books, there’s a book called The True Believer by, uh, Eric Hoffer, which is about mass movements, and he talked about how, like, look at the way that governments and, and even businesses work.

[00:08:38] Like, you, you, you start at this level and you slowly start ascending up and you start moving to better positions over time. And he’s like, that’s not how movements are born. The movement comes when the guide comes in and basically says, “This doesn’t work anymore. It’s over. Like, here’s the new thing.” And that’s what gets people to move and to mobilize.

[00:08:52] There’s something new. Like when we came to, to ClickFunnels and we launched it, I wasn’t coming back and be like, “Here’s a better way to build a website. Here’s a faster way to make a website.” I was like, “Websites are the worst thing in the world. They’re dead to me.” Right. “This is the future. It’s called a funnel.”

[00:09:05] It’s like, what’s a funnel? They don’t even know what it is, and they plug in ’cause people love new. They want, they want- Mm-hmm … th- that’s what gets people to actually move. And

[00:09:12] Nathan: you gave them the, the tagline and the wording and all of that where someone said like, “Yeah, I’m gonna build a website for my…” And, and- Like-

[00:09:19] someone in your community-

[00:09:20] Russell: Yeah …

[00:09:20] Nathan: could be like, “A website?” Why would

[00:09:21] Russell: you do that? No, no. Yeah.

[00:09:23] Nathan: That’s so five years ago. Yeah.

[00:09:24] Russell: Like- Eight tracks? I got an iPod now. Right. Like, why would I do… Like, that doesn’t make any sense. Yeah. So those are the first two things. So there’s the guide, there’s new opportunity, and the third thing is the, the guide is always offering what’s called a future-based cause.

[00:09:37] Nathan: Okay.

[00:09:38] Russell: So yeah, if you have somebody there, um, we could have them preaching or actually just looking to the future, uh, thinking about where they’re going. So, um, it’s interesting, when I was writing this, uh, this is a couple political elections ago when I was first starting studying this. And I remember I was writing this, and I was trying to, like, I had identified the future-based cause, and I was trying to think, like, what’s some examples I can share?

[00:10:02] And at the time, uh, I was working on this on my computer, and my TV was on on the side, but the, the sound was all the way down, and it was during the elections. And I’m not a political person, so I’m not trying to get political. Yeah. But I looked over, and it was, uh, Hillary and Trump were the two on the thing.

[00:10:14] Mm. And no sound was on, but I’m looking at it, and I was like, really interesting, ’cause I look over, and I see the campaign slogan signs behind their heads during the debate. Right. And, um, and I look at it, and Hillary’s was very present-based. I think it was like, “I’m with her” or… And there’s a couple things like that.

[00:10:27] Mm-hmm. I was like, interesting. That’s like a, that’s a very present-based thing. And then I looked at, uh, I looked at Trump’s, and it was like, whatever, the make America whatever. It was like a future-based cause. Yeah. I was like, I wonder if this holds true, like, backwards in time. So I went to Wikipedia. I was like, presidential elections from the history of time, and so I went back and I started going, and I was looking at that.

[00:10:45] I looked at Obama. And Obama, his was like, “Change.” Like, so talking about this future-based cause versus- Right … again, I’m not political, who was he running against? Bush or whoever, whatever the other one was. Ah. It was

[00:10:53] Nathan: like- Yeah. No, I can’t even think. Shows how much we care about it.

[00:10:56] Russell: Claim us in the comments.

[00:10:57] We don’t even know. Um, but I found that one, and I went back, and I went back every single election back to the year I was born, 1980. And every single one, it was crazy. I had the, the, the campaign slogans, and the winner 100% of the time ran on a future-based cause, and the loser always had a present-based cause.

[00:11:11] And so if you’re, if you’re coming to your audience in your movement, and you’re like, “Hey, things are awesome here. It’s gonna be great,” like, that does not get people to move. Right. It’s this move, like, this is like, this is where we’re going. Like, painting a vision, casting a vision for people, and showing them what’s possible and where they’re going is the transition, right?

[00:11:27] Like, when we started, again, launching ClickFunnels, like, the future-based cause I started talking about was, was, like, helping people understand, like- Um, like wherever they are in their life, like we’re trying to get you over here. Like, um- That

[00:11:38] Nathan: was the you’re one funnel away.

[00:11:39] Russell: Yeah, you’re one funnel away was, was the thing where it’s like this is- Mm-hmm

[00:11:42] future-based cause. Like you’re one funnel away, we come over here. And it gives people like hope of something new. Um, because hope is what gets people again to move.

[00:11:49] Nathan: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:49] Russell: And so when you have a business that incorporates these things, and my guess is for most people they’re probably doing at least one.

[00:11:55] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:11:55] Russell: But most that are here, maybe, maybe one and two. But when you have all three, I mean, like that’s, that’s the thing that creates actual movement where people are like, “I’m going to leave the thing I’m doing now because I want to be part of this.” There’s a, there’s a clear vision of what this looks like.

[00:12:09] This is completely new, and this is the person I trust- Mm-hmm … to take me on that journey. And those are the things that, that, that have all the things. So you can think about, again, if you think about any political movement, religious movement, whatever it is, you’ll see it. Like, uh, for Christians you think the guide, you’ve got Jesus Christ.

[00:12:24] New opportunity, right? He’s like, “The Law of Moses is dead. Here’s the new law.” Boom. Your future-based cause. Like, like that’s all that faith is, right? Right. Just future-based cause. Um, but then you can look at, you can look at really, really bad versions of this, right? Like, uh, Hitler in World War II, I was looking at.

[00:12:39] It’s like you have Hitler, right? New opportunity. Like they’re, like the German people are under oppression because of the World War I, all these kind of things.

[00:12:45] Nathan: Yep.

[00:12:46] Russell: And, uh-

[00:12:46] Nathan: Economic conditions and all that. It was prime for him to come

[00:12:49] Russell: in. Yeah. He didn’t come in and was like, “Hey, I’m gonna make this a little better.

[00:12:50] We’re gonna like try to lower the taxes.” He was like, “No, this…” Whatever, the Treaty of Versailles, rips it up. “We’re changing everything. This is the new…” And like people rally behind this. “Let’s go.” And it’s like, “This is where we’re going. This is the future” and paints this vision, and people started moving.

[00:13:02] And so these things can be used really negatively or positively.

[00:13:05] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:13:05] Russell: Which is always kind of scary. It’s a, it’s a very

[00:13:06] Nathan: powerful tool.

[00:13:07] Russell: Yeah.

[00:13:08] Nathan: And then we get to decide how we use

[00:13:09] Russell: it. Yeah. So when, when you’re building your company, again, wherever you’re at it’s just like, okay, how do I start thinking about this differently?

[00:13:14] Like how do I… What’s the language I’m gonna use, um, about how I’m introducing my opportunity? It’s even interesting because- Um, a new opportunity versus, like, an improvement offer. A lot of times the product doesn’t change, just how you, how you position, how you s- how you talk about it, right? ‘Cause me saying ClickFunnels, like, “Hey, it’s a website builder.”

[00:13:31] It is. Yeah. And it’s like, cool, that’s a, it’s a better website builder.

[00:13:35] Nathan: Right.

[00:13:35] Russell: Uh, the, the keyword I always say if it’s, if you tell something’s improvement, if it has E-R in it, like better, faster. Mm-hmm. Like, when you try to pitch somebody on your product, yeah, it’s better than… Ah, you got an improvement offer.

[00:13:44] Nathan: Like, we’re, we’re just solidly in the 10% better-

[00:13:46] Russell: Yeah …

[00:13:47] Nathan: or whatever.

[00:13:47] Russell: So it’s like, it’s all in just, like, the positioning and how you frame it of, like, no, this is actually a new opportunity. And, like, this one seems to, like, takes the longest for people to figure out. Mm-hmm. But when you figure that out and it clicks, um, I always think about new opportunity.

[00:13:59] It’s the difference of, like, um… Let’s say I’m selling a car. It’s like, here’s a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. Like, those are all cars, even though they’re different. Like, new opportunity’s like, no, no, we’re not gonna drive there. We’re gonna jump in a plane. Like, that’s- Mm … it’s a new opportunity. It’s a different way to get the end result that someone’s trying to get.

[00:14:13] So that’s the core, the core pieces.

[00:14:16] Nathan: Okay, so what we’ve got here, the guide. That’s, uh, the, the key player in here. I think every creator has that. Mm-hmm. New opportunity, I wanna dive into that maybe with a specific example for a creator. And then I think the future-based cause is so important of, like, what are people aspiring to?

[00:14:31] And that’s where, like, I am not a Trump fan at all. But, like, you have to, from a marketing perspective, you have to look at, like, Make America Great Again is such- Yeah … a good slogan because it’s-

[00:14:43] Russell: Which he stole from Reagan, which I didn’t know that till I was going through, and that was Reagan’s thing back in- Oh, okay

[00:14:46] whenever it was. He literally, that was his thing.

[00:14:49] Nathan: Well, that’s the other thing, like, the number of times that- … throughout history that someone is just like, “That works.”

[00:14:53] Russell: I know. Copy, paste. If I was running for pol- politician, I would just look at the old ones, like, oh, that was really good.

[00:14:58] Nathan: Right? And you’re like, “Oh, it looks like we’re running on Teddy Roosevelt’s platform here.”

[00:15:02] Russell: It worked before, it’s gonna work again.

[00:15:04] Nathan: So if we make this really tangible for creators-

[00:15:06] Russell: Mm-hmm …

[00:15:06] Nathan: what I’m thinking about is, does someone come to mind who implemented this, whether, like, maybe before they were just, they were an educator- Mm-hmm … and they, they switched into the guide mentality, and does anyone come to mind that-

[00:15:18] Russell: Yeah.

[00:15:18] Um, I thought of, uh, there’s, uh, two guys in my space, uh- Mm-hmm … Ryan Lee and Brad Gibb, and they’re financial planners.

[00:15:26] Nathan: Okay.

[00:15:26] Russell: Um, which is a very- I love those guys, that they’re listening. It’s a boring business. Yeah. Like, okay. Then, you know, and they were like, “How do we turn this into a movement?” So again, they became the guides.

[00:15:36] They became these experts and they, they spent a lot of time developing themselves as that person, right? Um, future-based cause. So over here, they started thinking about, like, what is the end result? Like, why does somebody get financial planning? Mm-hmm. You know? And why do they wanna go and buy insurance?

[00:15:49] Whatever that thing is, right? You think about, like, the end, the end goal. And a lot of people think, well, it’s for stability, or it’s because if they, whatever their thing might be, right? And they w- they spent a lot of time on this, and finally realized it’s, like, the people that, the customers who were putting money into, into their thing, what they actually wanted to do is they wanted to be free.

[00:16:07] Like, they were very much, um, uh, like security-driven. They wanted to have freedom. Like, freedom was the, the core value their people had. Mm-hmm. So they built this whole future-based cause. It was like, live, uh, rise up and live free. Mm-hmm. So it wasn’t like, “Invest some money with us,” and whatever. It’s like, no.

[00:16:19] Right … invest the money. Within 10 years, you will be free. Like, that’s the future-based cause. So we’re gonna rise up, you’re gonna become free, um, free from finances, from all that kind of stuff, in 10 years or less. And so that became this future-based cause. Mm-hmm. So then they’re like, “You should invest with us.”

[00:16:31] They’re coming in saying, “Hey, guys, you come with us. We’re gonna build a plan. Within 10 years, the shackles are gone.” Future-based cause. This is where we’re going, right? And people were so excited, ’cause it’s like, I can see that.

[00:16:42] Nathan: Something that I’m noticing is these future-based causes tend to go abstract.

[00:16:45] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:45] Nathan: Like, w- as an educator, we’re like, “Here’s the concrete.”

[00:16:48] Russell: Here’s the step-by-steps.

[00:16:49] Nathan: Right. And the, you know, rise up and live free, you’re like, that could be about all kinds of things.

[00:16:54] Russell: Yeah.

[00:16:54] Nathan: But so long as you, you … Like, within finance, it makes perfect sense.

[00:16:57] Russell: Yeah.

[00:16:57] Nathan: Right?

[00:16:58] Russell: And usually it, it’s interesting, ’cause, like, a lot of times you’ll find this based on the value of the guide.

[00:17:02] Yeah. Like, what I found is true for m- at least for me and most people I work with, is like, um, whoever the, the guide is, like, the things, the values you have that are kind of out there are the reasons why people are attracted to you, right? Um- And so I think a lot of the times, uh, when you, when you focus on, like, like what are the values of the guide- Mm-hmm

[00:17:21] those, tho- your f- your, your followers are gonna follow you for the same values, right? Like, people who follow me, they follow me ’cause they like my business ideas, they like the fact I’m a family person, they like that I’m married, they like that I’m, uh- Yeah … that I follow my faith. Like, they, they follow based on similar values.

[00:17:34] So you figure out what’s the value that people are following me for, and then based on that, usually the future-based cause comes out of the value, right? Mm-hmm. It’s like, this is the thing that means the most to me. Like, for me, freedom wasn’t my number one value. That’s not why I’m in business. Otherwise, I would’ve retired a decade ago.

[00:17:49] Right. Like, for me it’s creation. Like, I love, uh… Like, I feel like what I do is a, is a calling from God, and so I, I tell people that. So my, a lot of my future-based cause is just, is that I’m explaining to people, like, if you’re, if you’re drawn to this conversation, like, I believe it’s a calling from God, and He wants you to change people’s lives.

[00:18:04] You’ve been called to serve this group of people over here, and that’s what you gotta do. So like, because that’s what I believe myself, I share that, and then that’s why people come to me, ’cause they’re like, “I feel the same way.” Like, “I feel this, like, this weird pull where I c- like,” Right “… I don’t know if I even wanna be in business, but I know I need to help these people, and so I feel like it’s a calling.”

[00:18:20] And so I share that future-based cause with people. That’s what connects them with me because it’s a shared value I have with them. Mm-hmm. And I can build the future-based cause based on that.

[00:18:28] Nathan: The running… I love that, and I wrote down origin story as well, ’cause you’d mentioned that. Mm. Right? It ties in, you know, who are you?

[00:18:34] Like, don’t try to become someone else. Yeah. You know, find those core attributes, your values, your origin story, all of that. Yeah. And you might choose things to amplify or say like, “Oh, actually, that’s a good part of it. I, I should tell people that.”

[00:18:44] Russell: I should tell more people this more often. Yeah.

[00:18:47] Nathan: Um, now if we g- if we take the example of financial planners, how would you frame the new opportunity-

[00:18:54] Russell: Yeah

[00:18:54] Nathan: within that?

[00:18:55] Russell: Cool. So, like, if you look at core finan- like what financial planners are doing, they’re all selling the same thing, right? It’s like, for the most part it’s like, “Here’s insurance.” Like, this is what, this is what it is. So like, when you go like, “And we have insurance” and like, I, I hear… I have friends who are, I have, every one of my friends who does insurance pitches me now when I see them.

[00:19:10] So they’re all like, “Oh, well, our company’s better. We’ve been around for 150 years,” and blah blah blah. “Oh, my company’s better ’cause we’re newer and we can da da…” You know, like, that’s all the, the things that they’re always fighting.

[00:19:19] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:19:19] Russell: Um-

[00:19:19] Nathan: Incremental …

[00:19:19] Russell: the reas- the reality is, like, I don’t c- like I couldn’t care if your company’s been around for 150 years and whatever, even though, like, that’s the thing they’re driving down on.

[00:19:26] So look at Brad and Ryan when they built their future-based cause. They never talk about insurance. Like, I didn’t even know. Like, I invested all my money with them, and so what they brought to me was a vehicle that got the future-based cause. Like, “Hey, we have a process and a system.” Um, and they d- honestly, they kind of explained it, but I didn’t even wanna know it.

[00:19:43] I just, I wanted this, right?

[00:19:44] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:19:45] Russell: And so they came in and said, “This is the way we do it, and there’s a process” And so they have, like, a… They have their, their system and their whatever, but, um, I don’t remember off the top of my head exactly what they called it.

[00:19:53] Nathan: Right.

[00:19:53] Russell: But that’s what it was. W- And, um- When you look at, like, the mechan- you open up, it’s like, okay, you’re gonna invest in insurance, and then from there we’re pulling money out and we’re gonna put it into real estate.

[00:20:02] And then there… And there’s this whole, like- Yeah … their unique mechanism they went and created, right? And had a unique name for it, a unique, uh, framework and that kind of stuff. And so that was the new opportunity. It’s like you can invest in insurance with every other financial planner, or with us you get the…

[00:20:14] Ah, they’re gonna kill me watching this. Like, the, I can’t remember the name of it off the top of my head, but, but it’s something that they package unique. Yep. And yes, insurance is a piece of it, but it’s a whole pro- it’s a whole step-by-step thing that- Mm-hmm … walks them through everything, right? Where it’s different, it’s unique, it’s not the same thing everybody else is doing.

[00:20:28] Nathan: Yeah. I think the big thing that stands out to me is that it’s, it’s not incremental.

[00:20:31] Russell: Yeah.

[00:20:31] Nathan: And so I think it’s a great call-out when you’re putting your offer together- ER … of looking for that. The ER, right? Better, faster, stronger, whatever.

[00:20:39] Russell: Yeah.

[00:20:39] Nathan: Um, but that’s not what we’re going for. Transformational.

[00:20:42] Russell: Yeah, for sure.

[00:20:43] Nathan: Yeah. I like that.

[00:20:43] Russell: Those are the core pieces. And like I said, they’re so simple when you hear them. You’re like, “Yeah, simple, really simple.” But most, when they’re talking about it, it’s like they never share this stuff with people. Mm-hmm. They’re just selling the better version of what everybody else is trying to make a better mousetrap.

[00:20:54] And so because of that they get stuck at a couple of hundred grand a year. Versus, like, how do you get it where people plug into this and all of a sudden, like, they’re sharing the future-based cause with other people.

[00:21:02] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:21:02] Russell: Like, “Hey, I’m one funnel away. Hey, I’m gonna rise up and live free.” They’re telling their friends, like, “Hey, I m- I met these guys and they’re helping me to, like, to, like, live free.

[00:21:10] In 10 years from now I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be debt-free.” Right. Like, that’s the, that’s the message that gets amplified, right? Uh, that’s the one where they’re at a party with their friends and, and they’re telling them like, “Oh, I met this g- I, I’m following this guy, and he’s got this thing, and I’m d-…” You know?

[00:21:23] And like, that’s what- Yeah … that’s what s- creates that, like, the viral rip- like, the viral effect, whatever you wanna call it, that it creates a movement. ‘Cause if you try to, you try to rely 100% on your own efforts to grow a moven- movement, it’s hard to grow.

[00:21:34] Nathan: Right.

[00:21:35] Russell: If you try to do this 100% based on ads, it’s gonna be really, really hard.

[00:21:37] It’s like really identifying and figuring that out is then when people come in and then- That’s how

[00:21:41] Nathan: you make it spread … it’s

[00:21:42] Russell: a movement, yeah.

[00:21:42] Nathan: Yeah. And it’s one of those things, like, your ultimate product has to be good. 100%. Right? W- and we have to be creating a transformation in people. But there’s so many things, like, there’s so many fundamentals in life that you have to get right that- Mm-hmm

[00:21:53] you can help people with any one part of this. L- you know, the, whether it’s their finances, their fitness, relationships, any of those things. Like, you can get them into a pretty incredible future-based state that they would love- Yeah … to tell all their friends about. Yeah. Um, and you just have to package it correctly.

[00:22:08] Russell: And then especially when they start getting some success with the product you’re offering them, and then people are like, “What are you doing?” Like, well, you know? Versus like, “Oh, I’m, I have this, uh, a, a new financial planner.” And they’re like, “Oh, I know what a financial planner is,” and then just dies. Yeah.

[00:22:18] Versus like, you know, “I’m gonna be… I, I’m three years in. I’m gonna be, 10 years I’m gonna be debt-free.” Right. “Like, how did you do that? Tell me how you did it.” “Well, I got this guy.” Boom. Mm. And brings them in.

[00:22:27] Nathan: Yep. I like that. I’m gonna put transformational here. That sounds good. Um, I… Transformation was too long, so we went with transformer.

[00:22:35] We’re

[00:22:36] Russell: just going, we’re transforming.

[00:22:37] Nathan: With the, that’s the new opportunity. Um, okay. This is fantastic. Now, you have other things drawn right here.

[00:22:44] Russell: Yes.

[00:22:44] Nathan: We’ve got, we’ve got a podium, we’ve got a, a stair step. Like- All

[00:22:46] Russell: sorts of really cool stuff.

[00:22:48] Nathan: Where are we going here?

[00:22:49] Russell: Okay. Um, so again, this is the core, like, underlining premise of the entire thing.

[00:22:54] Like, again, as I was studying the step for Real Quick Funnels, I’m like, okay, these are the core things I’m gonna be weaving in. But then there’s, like, the tactic. Like, well, how do you, how and where do these things-

[00:23:03] Nathan: Right …

[00:23:03] Russell: start showing up, right? Um, okay. We both draw on doodles. Do you wanna draw a dude right here?

[00:23:08] I’ll draw a dude right here.

[00:23:09] Nathan: All right. So we’ve got- A customer right here

[00:23:13] Russell: Not just any customer, though. This is, like, your dream customer. So the dream customer is gonna have blue hair, I think.

[00:23:20] Nathan: I like it.

[00:23:21] Russell: But, uh, this is one of the things, like, I wish that somebody would’ve told me this when I first got started in my business.

[00:23:25] I remember I was probably, man, four or five years into my business, and one mo- one morning, I woke up, I was laying in bed. I remember laying there, and I was like, “I wish I had a boss so they could fire me, like, if I didn’t go in the office today.” But I didn’t, it was me. Right. And I remember, like, driving to the office that day.

[00:23:41] I was like, “Why am I so miserable?” And I was like, “I don’t love my customers.” Mm. And what happens, I just created a product and started selling it, and then people started coming to do it. Like, ’cause I didn’t think about any of this stuff initially. And so people started buying it, and, like, the people who bought it weren’t who I would- would’ve chosen to serve or to work with.

[00:23:57] Mm. And it was just, like, it was such a horrible thing. And I remember, um, because I was going through this whole process, and I was like, “If I could start over from scratch now, like, like, I would not have picked these customers.” Mm. And I think part of, like, the messaging I put out brought the wrong customers in.

[00:24:10] And so I remember getting to the office that day and sitting there like, like, “Who, who would my dream customer actually be? If I could pick that person, like, if I could draw them out…” And, uh, and so I did, I did some quals, like, thinking about like, hey, if for the men I wanna serve, like, I was like, they, they used to be an athlete in a past life, but now they’re, like, retired and they, they’re looking for more.

[00:24:26] I’m looking for somebody who’s, who’s driven, who’s, uh, who’s had some success and, and, uh, maybe coach somebody g- and you have that feeling of, like, he had some success, and he wants to give back more. And, like, I m- I listed all these different attributes, and I remember I went to Google Images, and I typed in all of…

[00:24:40] Just copy and pasted in and clicked submit, and all these faces popped up. And I was scrolling through, I’m like, “Ah.” And there was this guy, I was like, “That’s the guy.” And I clicked on it and I printed it out, and I wrote Mike on top of it, and I put it on my wall. I’m like, “There’s Mike.” I’m like, “That’s, that’s the guy I wanna serve.”

[00:24:52] And then I was like, “Who are the women I wanna serve?” And I, same thing, I was like, “Well, I want…” And I made all these attributes, went to Google Images, posted in there, scrolled through, I found this picture, and I was like, “That’s her.” And I printed it out, I wrote Julie on the top and I paste it. So I had Mike and Julie were, like, my dream customers, and I knew what was important to them.

[00:25:08] And I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna rebuild my business.” So I literally, I just stopped talking to my dream customers. We didn’t have any con- they’d already bought products, but I was just like, “I’m not gonna… We’re just not buying more ads. We’re not gonna try. I’m gonna build this new thing.” And what was crazy that came from this exercise is, like, I realized that everything I was selling right now, Mike and Julie would never have bought it.

[00:25:26] And I was like, the thing that I wanted to create, I was like… In fact, it was, it was, um, my first, not, like, a real book, my first book I put together. Yeah. I was like, I wanna show people, the thing I wanna geek out about is my split testing. I’m like, we split tested every page, every… I have so much cool data, and if I show my current customers, they’d be like, “Why are you showing me this?”

[00:25:42] But I was like, Mike and Julie would freak out about that. So I took all my split test that we’d done, 108 different split tests that we had won. I put them in a book, and I, like, again, I sent an email to my existing customers. I’m like, “Who wants to buy this book?” And we sold, like, three. I’m like, “Ugh.” From, like, probably 60,000 subscribers, I was like, “Ugh.”

[00:25:56] I’m like, “Well, I’m gonna put it out there.” And we started buying ads and doing stuff. And what was crazy, because I created the bait that would get my dream customer, and I started putting it out there. The people who started buying this book were different people. I didn’t realize it at first. And I remember at the back side of that, we did an event.

[00:26:10] We had 100 people come to it. And I remember in the past, if I did events, I’d kind of hide in the back ’cause I was like, “Ah, I don’t know if I wanna see my c- I don’t wanna talk to these guys.” This time I went out there, and I was like, every one of these people I would hang out with. Like, they were, like, my dream customers.

[00:26:21] We’re geeking out about these nerdy thing. And it was like, those are my dream customers. And so I always lead with that because you can attract people easily. You put out the right message, you’ll get the right people.

[00:26:30] Nathan: Right.

[00:26:31] Russell: But understanding that, spend time figuring, like, who do you actually wanna serve?

[00:26:34] Who’s a person that, like, even if you made $0, you would still wake up every morning pumped to serve them? You need to figure out that first. Like, that’s, that what makes all the rest of the stuff actually work, so.

[00:26:44] Nathan: The trap that I, I think you’re talking about and that I see people fall into is they see…

[00:26:48] They say, “I have message number one, and that brought in X number of people, and message number two, and that brought in Y number,” you know? Yeah. Or A- X plus 10% or whatever. Yeah. So the second message is the better one.

[00:26:59] Russell: Yeah.

[00:26:59] Nathan: And what you’re saying is like follow that to its logical conclusion. Are those the people that you wanna be in a mastermind with?

[00:27:05] Russell: Yeah.

[00:27:06] Nathan: You know, serving, like, answering support tickets for, staying up late. Life is

[00:27:09] Russell: short. Right? If you’re serving the wrong people, it’s not a happy existence.

[00:27:12] Nathan: That’s the thing. Someone asked me- Yeah … like, uh, why I haven’t sold Kit or why I don’t want to. And I’m like, “I get to spend all my time- That’s what I do, yeah

[00:27:20] serving my dream customers,” right? It’s like, it’s all of my favorite people, you know, all these authors and creators and, like, just love hanging out with them.

[00:27:26] Russell: Yeah.

[00:27:27] Nathan: Uh, but you can absolutely get into the other markets where there’s plenty of people who have tried to buy Kit over the years, like, tried to, uh, become a customer-

[00:27:34] Russell: Mm-hmm

[00:27:34] Nathan: or have, and then they’re like, “Okay, now you need to go build all these things.” And I’m like, “I don’t, I don’t, like, I don’t want to.” And they might be like, “There’s great revenue there,” but it’s like, ah, it’s not-

[00:27:44] Russell: Yeah …

[00:27:44] Nathan: it’s not compelling, and it would take us in a totally different direction.

[00:27:46] Russell: For sure. You even, you know, off-camera, you told me about a feature that you didn’t even wanna build because you didn’t believe in it for your customer.

[00:27:51] Like, even though everyone… Like, it’d probably make you a ton more money, but you’re like- Right … “That’s not what… My dream customer should not be doing that. I disagree with it.” Right. Therefore, you didn’t do it, which is, like, super cool, but.

[00:28:00] Nathan: Yeah, I love that. Okay. Yeah. So we have the dream customer. Okay.

[00:28:02] Russell: Where do we

[00:28:02] Nathan: go from

[00:28:03] Russell: there? So now I look at this. I think about, um, we talked about politics earlier, future-based cause, but I think about this, like, when you come out there and you become this guy who wants to go and speak to people, like, you’re not the only voice. Mm-hmm. There’s, there’s… If, if you’re in the weight loss i- industry, there’s 500,000 people shouting from Instagram and YouTube, like, from the top of their lungs, like, campaigning for your dream customers.

[00:28:25] And so we just draw a person here, like, as if they’re campaigning-

[00:28:27] Nathan: Okay …

[00:28:27] Russell: for the dream customers, and just realize that they’re competing with a whole bunch of other people, right? And

[00:28:32] Nathan: so- Do they, do they have a sign?

[00:28:33] Russell: Yes, they do need a… Just give them a big old sign.

[00:28:37] Nathan: Here’s the sign. Their, their arm got long enough to hold the sign.

[00:28:41] Russell: I love it. Um, I was thinking about this during political season, ’cause we’re, we both live in Boise, so like when you drive down the street in Boise and you see all the signs, the signs are like the person’s last name with the year. Yeah. I’m like, like-

[00:28:52] Nathan: I know what year it is.

[00:28:53] Russell: Who did you spend? Like, who did you hire?

[00:28:55] Like, please hire me. Like, like, what is the future-based cause that’s gonna get this dream customer to move towards you, right?

[00:29:01] Nathan: Right. What tr- It’s- Yeah, what transformation are you creating? What, what new opportunity, all of this, and it’s like, and your thing is like- … Barry 2026. And you’re like-

[00:29:09] Russell: And there’s like 40 different names down there.

[00:29:11] I’m, I’m driving down, I’m like, “I don’t know what any of you guys believe. What, like, what’s in it for me?” Like, oh, we could make so much money if we just became political marketers. Anyway, I, I kinda wanna- That’s … I kinda wanna run for, like, a big political office just to win, but I don’t wanna- … I don’t wanna do it.

[00:29:24] Like, okay, you can have it back. I mean, the, the, you know- I just want to prove to you that marketing works. Um, okay, so here’s the thing, and so when I started thinking about this with, with, um, with my business, right? When we started going after our dream customer. So for me, it’s like, uh, these are, uh, impact vision-driven entrepreneurs who, um, who feel called to change the lives of customers.

[00:29:40] Like, that’s who my dream customer is. When I looked at my avatar, um, that was the thing. So I’m like, what is the messaging that’s gonna cut through all the noise to get these people to come to me? And it comes back to some of these things here, right? It’s like, it’s a blend of, like, your future-based cause, your new opportunity.

[00:29:54] And I remember, we, we didn’t have this for a long time, and it was, um, uh, I think it was our second or third event, our Funnel Hacking Live event. I was in ClickFunnels writing the headline for the event, and uh, the way I write headlines, I, I look at, uh, swipe files of other people’s headlines and stuff, just to get ideas.

[00:30:09] And there’s a guy, one of my, you know, one of the, the legends in the advertising space named Gary Halbert, and he had this headline he wrote one time. It said, um, “You’re one sales letter away from being rich.” I was like, “Oh, that feels really good.” So I remember at the top of my, top of my, uh, the page, I was like, “You’re one funnel away from being rich.”

[00:30:24] And I was like, “Yeah.” And then I was like, like, my dream customers, like, yeah, they probably wanna make money, but most of them, like, that’s not their driving force. Like-

[00:30:32] Nathan: It’s in, in pursuit of something else.

[00:30:34] Russell: Yeah. I would’ve got some people to come to me. Mm-hmm. So I like deleted that. I was like, “You’re one funnel away from more impact.”

[00:30:38] And I was like, there’s a segment that’s the right thing. Mm-hmm. But some people, maybe not. Like, one funnel away from firing your boss. One funnel away, and I had all these different things I kept trying. I remember deleting them all, and then I was sitting there, and the headline said, “One funnel away…” dot, dot, dot.

[00:30:48] And I was sitting here, I looked at it and I was like, “Oh,” like, that’s my campaign slogan. If I was gonna be campaigning for my dream customer, like, you’re one funnel away. Like, what does that mean for you? Let them fill

[00:30:57] Nathan: in the

[00:30:57] Russell: blank. Yeah, let them fill it in.

[00:30:58] Nathan: Hmm.

[00:30:59] Russell: And so that became my, my big rallying call.

[00:31:00] So one funnel- My handwriting’s way worse than yours. That says one funnel away.

[00:31:09] Nathan: One funnel away. I like it.

[00:31:09] Russell: But that became like the rallying call for all my people, like, “You’re one funnel away,” and like- Mm-hmm … and trying to get them to start coming to me, and helping cast this future-based vision, right?

[00:31:16] Of like, this is for, this is for you. It’s like, um, you know, and again, depending on when my dream customers are coming to me, they’re, everyone’s at a different time- Mm-hmm … point in their timeline, right? Uh, you probably have the same thing with K- people coming, I don’t have any newsletter. Right. It’s like there’s a different message for them.

[00:31:29] So it’s like you’re one funnel away from, from freedom, from whatever your thing is. But then other people who’ve got a bigger business, like there’s a different thing. And so-

[00:31:35] Nathan: How do I break through a million in revenue? Yeah. And it’s like, well-

[00:31:37] Russell: You’re one funnel away …

[00:31:38] Nathan: you’re one funnel away. Right.

[00:31:39] Russell: And so for me, like this became the rallying call.

[00:31:40] But if you looked at my social- Mm-hmm … when we first came out, like it was me telling my one funnel away stories. I was like, “I remember when I was broke, and I tried this- Oh … and this and this- Yeah … and then this Potato Gun DVD. This was the first one I put together that worked, and I made some money. Like that was my first one.”

[00:31:54] Mm-hmm. I share that, and then the beginners who are like, “Oh, I’ve been in that same spot.” Mm-hmm. And that one funnel away story resonates with them. But then a different r- reel or YouTube video, whatever, I’m telling a completely different story where I’m talking about like, “Hey, I was growing my company.

[00:32:05] We were stuck at a million dollars a year for like five years in a row. I couldn’t figure it out. And then we created this funnel. This is how we launched it.” Mm-hmm. “And we told it, and we went from a million to 10.” Right? And then that, there’s a different segment of dream customers who hear that, and they come in.

[00:32:17] Other ones talk about impact, ones where like I was able to like be at every one of my kids’ wrestling matches because I evergreened a funnel. Right. And I was one funnel away from spending time with my kids and never missing a single practice. And then like, so it’s just like every variation of like how this lived out in my life as the guide- Mm-hmm

[00:32:32] and then sharing those stories over and over consistently, we’re just, just grabbing different segments, these dream customers. They’re like, “That’s the vision. That’s the future that I wanna be only part of for myself.”

[00:32:41] Nathan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And then you w- you end up with almost endless stories.

[00:32:44] Russell: Yeah.

[00:32:44] Nathan: Because you can tell all of your stories, and then as you create transformations with people, you can tell their stories.

[00:32:49] Russell: Yeah.

[00:32:49] Nathan: And you just keep coming back to that one thing.

[00:32:51] Russell: Yeah. It gets better. It’s, it’s interesting, like, um, I’ve had people tell me like, “I don’t have that many stories. I’m gonna get bored after a little bit.”

[00:32:57] And it’s like- Mm-hmm … the goal, like you said, is 100%, it’s like there’s value in you telling your stories, but there’s way more value in you telling your customer stories.

[00:33:03] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:33:04] Russell: And then there’s even a third tier to that, is like, um, so like for me, for example, it’s like I’ve got a million stories of me building funnels.

[00:33:11] I stopped telling most of my stories back in the day ’cause it gets annoying, keep hearing mine. We had so many s- so many s- uh, students, so I started sharing those, like you said. But what was interesting is like, like a good example is, uh, Brandon and Caleb Poland. So they came into our world. Uh, they built a couple funnels to help women overcome weight loss.

[00:33:27] And in those funnels, I think at the time, uh, before they sold the company, they had like 1.3 million women had joined their list. Oh, wow. They had hundreds of thousands of success stories and things like that. And so then almost my, the stories I share, it wasn’t just like Brandon and Caleb, it was like the success stories of their students.

[00:33:41] Of like, of like- Yeah … these people’s lives were changed because they did the… You know? So it’s like, it’s going like three levels deep. And when you get there, it just, again, it just keeps bringing more and more of these people into, into your world.

[00:33:51] Nathan: Well, we live in this world where- Like all the entrepreneurs that we’re serving are people who may have started down the path of business ’cause they’re like, “Look, I need to create this transformation in my life.

[00:34:01] I would love to not be stressed about a mortgage or whatever else.”

[00:34:03] Russell: Yeah.

[00:34:04] Nathan: But they pretty quickly meet that bar, and then they’re all about the transformation that we’re creating. And so when your messaging is about that-

[00:34:11] Russell: Yeah …

[00:34:11] Nathan: you know, and the future of his cause and all that, it’s like think of the impact that you could have on 10,000 people or more.

[00:34:17] Russell: Yeah.

[00:34:17] Nathan: Then, yeah, everything gets so much more clear. Yeah. And it’s just, it’s so much more compelling.

[00:34:21] Russell: It makes, it makes business so much more fun. Yep. I was gonna say, come back versus like, uh, what’s the aver- ad copy for the next thing I gotta write, versus like-

[00:34:28] Nathan: Right …

[00:34:29] Russell: let’s talk about these cool… Anyway, it’s just more fun.

[00:34:31] Nathan: But I think that, so the thing that’s most interesting to me about this-

[00:34:34] Russell: Mm-hmm …

[00:34:34] Nathan: is not only that it’s, you know, about the new opportunity and, and that, that new future, but that you actually made it way more compelling by making it more general. Yeah. By letting people fill in their own things. Like, if you were to go with probably a bunch of the political slogans, like going back to-

[00:34:52] uh, Trump or Reagan or whoever, right? Make America great, or It doesn’t say anything about how. Yeah. And it lets people fill in the blank. Yeah. Which is interesting on a… From a marketing perspective, almost always specificity or niches are better. Yeah. And so this is a j- like, an interesting place where it’s like, actually specificity is not better.

[00:35:13] Russell: Yeah. You could let the… You cast the vision but let them plug it in.

[00:35:16] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:35:16] Russell: Yeah, I, I mean, I was thinking about that with, um, when the year that Obama won, his, uh, his campaign was change. Mm-hmm. And it was the same thing. It’s like, it’s like everyone, everyone just wasn’t happy where they are, which I don’t think people are ever happy where they are.

[00:35:28] Right. Like, that thing was simple, but everyone had a version of like, “Oh, I think what he mean, when he wins, change means this,” or, “I think it means this.” Or, “I think it…” They, everyone had their version what they thought change would mean. Again, which is why he won. I think it’s very similar here, is like, if you were to ask every one of my clients, like, what one funnel away meant to them, it was different, you know?

[00:35:43] They probably gave- And probably different, different times of their, of their life too …

[00:35:45] Nathan: 50

[00:35:46] Russell: different answers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And

[00:35:47] Nathan: so the other thing that I noticed about it as a slogan is you don’t outgrow it.

[00:35:52] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:52] Nathan: Because you always want, like, it’s human nature, we, we want things to change. We want forward progress.

[00:35:59] Russell: Yeah.

[00:35:59] Nathan: And so yeah, you’re one funnel away from not being stressed about your mortgage. Mm-hmm. Well, two years from now, I might be one funnel away from actually being able to feel like I can be present at my kids’ soccer games. Yeah. Right? And that

[00:36:10] Russell: goes

[00:36:10] Nathan: from there.

[00:36:11] Russell: Yeah. And also, it’s like, the big thing I think is, like, also living this yourself because, um, I told you we had some up and downs the last couple years, and in, and, uh, I rallied my team, like, last December.

[00:36:20] I was like, “You guys, the message I’ve been preaching for the last decade of you’re one funnel away, so are we. Like, like, we’re one funnel from changing our future of what we are as a company.” And it’s, I, I mentioned to you earlier, in January, we launched a new challenge called the One Fu- or the One Common Club Challenge, and that was a funnel.

[00:36:34] And it launched, and it crushed, and it’s like the first thing we’ve done. Like, we’ve had a lot of, again, funnels that we’ve been trying the last couple years, and that one hit again. And, and I told my team after, I was like, “I told you guys, like, we’re one funnel away just like everybody else.” Right. Like, different levels and scale, but it’s like the exact same thing is true.

[00:36:48] And so, like, if you’re living it, then I can go back to my audience then and then be like, “Oh, like, we should rally and do it again,” you know, and like re-motivate them. So yeah, if, if you crystallize it, you don’t outlive or i- it doesn’t matter where, where in the, the continuum you are, it’s still just as relevant.

[00:37:01] Yeah.

[00:37:01] Nathan: I love that. Okay. So where, where do we go from here?

[00:37:05] Russell: Okay. So people hear the, the rallying call of the, the leader. They decide to come and follow you. The first thing you gotta do after somebody comes, uh, into your world is you have to give them an identity shift. Yeah. So let’s draw a little person here.

[00:37:15] I can draw a blue- Yeah, you- … blue cape on him.

[00:37:17] Nathan: Uh, okay. What, what, what’s this person doing? Just-

[00:37:19] Russell: This person’s, uh-

[00:37:21] Nathan: Are

[00:37:21] Russell: they just right here? … looking this direction. How do you make stick figures look a direction?

[00:37:24] Nathan: Well, I tried on the other sheet, and I wasn’t sure- … that it, you know.

[00:37:29] Russell: There you go. That’s pretty cool.

[00:37:30] Nathan: That, that’ll work.

[00:37:30] Russell: And I’ll give him a huge old cape.

[00:37:33] Nathan: I like it. I like it.

[00:37:34] Russell: Yeah, they’re flying.

[00:37:35] Nathan: And then this, this is our leader. So I’ll label that. Cool. Okay. And this you, um, label identity shift?

[00:37:42] Russell: Yeah.

[00:37:43] Nathan: Okay. We’ll go-

[00:37:43] Russell: So this is our dream customers. The dream customer heard your message, followed the leader, and this is what people do, is like you get somebody hears the message, they come on Instagram, they follow you, and then you kinda let ’em, let ’em go.

[00:37:53] Nathan: Yep.

[00:37:54] Russell: And then you’re like, “Now they’re gonna follow me passively for a long time. Maybe they’ll buy something somewhere in the future.” What we try to do is like as the customer comes into our world, it’s like how do we give them an actual identity shift? Um, and there’s so much behind this. We go deep in the psychology of it.

[00:38:06] But the biggest thing is like if th- you can shift their identity, this is what we… I, I mentioned earlier like I don’t want them thinking that this is my business and they’re a customer of it. I want them thinking that this is us. Mm. This is who we are. And so this is something I kinda stumbled upon. Uh, the very first webinar I did to sell ClickFunnels, uh, I created a framework called funnel hacking.

[00:38:24] And I was like, “Here’s the funnel hacking,” and I kinda showed this thing. And then what was crazy is in the comments, uh, after the event, people would start doing it, and then they’d go in our, in our, uh, Facebook group, and they’re like, uh, “What’s up, funnel hackers? Hey, I’m funnel hacking.” And they started, they started…

[00:38:37] Like, that was the word they started using first. I was like, “Oh, that’s kinda catchy.” And they started calling themselves funnel hackers. And so then I, I went immediately and I had my designer make a T-shirt that said funnel hacker. Right. It had three dots underneath it. And so I, I wore the shirt and on a Facebook Live, and people were freaking out like, “I want a funnel hacker shirt.”

[00:38:51] So, like, we started shipping them out to people and, um, and then I was like, “Wait a minute.” I was like, “What if everybody who came into our world, um, we…” Almost like a superhero. Like, superhero puts on a cape. Like, how do we make it so it’s like they’re coming in normal as one person, we get them to put on a cape where they’re identifying with this thing that’s bigger than them.

[00:39:09] Uh, and so we had it set up when someone joined a ClickFunnels account, we’d ship them all a T-shirt.

[00:39:12] Nathan: Well, so I remember something specific. I’ve gone through your onboarding.

[00:39:15] Russell: Uh-huh.

[00:39:16] Nathan: And what I remember, ’cause from a software perspective, I’m trying to study everything, right?

[00:39:19] Russell: Yeah.

[00:39:20] Nathan: It would be if you went through the onboarding and completed these specific onboarding steps-

[00:39:24] Russell: Yep

[00:39:24] Nathan: then you got a T-shirt. Yep. And so it was like it was almost in the identity shift, like you made them do work.

[00:39:31] Russell: Yeah.

[00:39:31] Nathan: And now it was work that would make them successful, create this new opportunity, adopt the pro- like, all of those things.

[00:39:36] Russell: Yeah.

[00:39:37] Nathan: But it was like, “Oh, man, I, I earned that.” “I didn’t get that for free.”

[00:39:39] Russell: I earned this shirt, yeah.

[00:39:40] Nathan: Yeah, exactly.

[00:39:41] Russell: And it was such, it was such a big thing, and so we shipped the shirts out. And I remember we did it for two or three months, and it gets expensive, ’cause you’re printing a shirt, shipping it.

[00:39:47] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:39:48] Russell: And they didn’t pay for it. They just- they had this type of trial, but we’re sending them a shirt.

[00:39:51] I remember my accountant’s like, “Oh.” He’s like, you know. You know how they are, like, “Oh, this is just like wasting money. Why are we doing this? This is so stupid.” These

[00:39:57] Nathan: founders.

[00:39:58] Russell: Yeah. And I was about to cancel it, and I remember somebody, I don’t know who it was, I wish I could go back a decade and find it, but they sent me a message.

[00:40:05] And, uh, it was this guy, and he’s like, “I joined ClickFunnels,” whatever, “three or four months ago.” He’s like, “I’ve never logged into the software,” but he’s like, “I got the T-shirt, and I feel like I’m part of this tribe and this community.” Mm. And he’s like, “I’m never gonna cancel because, like, this is like my…

[00:40:20] This is who I am now.” Nice. And I re- I was like, “Oh, my gosh,” like, “That’s, that’s so interesting,” right? Uh, so I was like, “No, keep on shipping them.” And I think we’ve shipped, I don’t know- Probably, probably close to, I don’t know, half a, half a million or more shirts we’ve shipped out. Wow. I get pictures of people all the time who are like, uh, my friend’s like, “I’m in Bali,” and there’s some dude riding a bike wearing a Funnel Hacker shirt, and they send me a picture.

[00:40:40] “I’m at the gym in, you know, in Dubai,” and there’s three Funnel people walking. It’s like, you know, “I’m on a plane.” Yeah. And so like, it, you give it, and it’s like literally like a u- like a uniform. Now, a couple things we learned. Um, so I started sharing this with, with, um, with my dream customers when they were in it, and one of the first people who did it was, uh, Brandon and Kaden Poland, and so their…

[00:40:57] They, they shifted the name of their company because of this, ’cause they’re like, their company at the time was called Tool Time Trainers. That was her last name. And, um, and she’s like, “No, that’s not an identity. That’s, that’s me. That’s a business about me.” She’s like, “If I’m trying to get, like, people- Yeah

[00:41:09] I gotta change it.” So they changed it to Lady Boss, and then they made shirts, and they tried a bunch. They were, they were, they made a lot of money selling swag and merch and stuff, but one of the things they, they found that I had done not knowing, is ’cause my shirt said Funnel Hacker, and they tried a whole bunch of ones, and the ones that just said Lady Boss, uh, were the best, and they said the reason why is ’cause it’s an I am statement.

[00:41:27] I am a Funnel Hacker. I am a Lady Boss. I am a… And so if you can, if you can have something like that where, like, it’s the self-identify, like this is who I am. Mm-hmm. That worked better than some fancy quote or some funny thing or just some brand. Or just your company logo. Yeah, if I had ClickFunnels, like, I am…

[00:41:40] Uh, ClickFunnels is them. Right. Where it’s I’m a Funnel Hacker. This is, this is beyond- It’s identity … I happen to use the software, but this is who I am. This is the, the thing.

[00:41:47] Nathan: So I’m thinking about, like, what we’ve done with Kit that has worked the best in shirts or things like that. Mm-hmm. W- we’ve put, like, values statements on there.

[00:41:55] Um, two that w- we’ve done a lot of is, like, create every day and teach everything you know.

[00:42:01] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:42:01] Nathan: And those people wear all the time and, and they love and all that. We have not done anything related to… Like, a Kit creator is not branded in, in some way. Creator is the term we use the most, but that’s universal.

[00:42:14] That’s not specific to Kit.

[00:42:15] Russell: Yeah.

[00:42:16] Nathan: Um, so maybe first, like, how important is it to have that I am- The identity? … identity statement?

[00:42:23] Russell: I think it’s big. I mean, I look at- Yeah … even the other businesses we’re launching, like, uh, we have a bootstrap business that’s like Bootstrappers. We have, uh, a personal development business, and, um, they call themselves the Round Pegs in Square Holes.

[00:42:34] Like, like, it’s, it’s things like- Mm … that where they can self-identify with, like, this is who I, this is who I am. You know what I mean?

[00:42:40] Nathan: Yeah, so in that, like, we’ve done a lot with the phrase I am a creator.

[00:42:45] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:42:45] Nathan: Especially back, like, 2018, 2019, when that wasn’t a common phrase. Now I feel like it’s so common-

[00:42:53] Russell: Uh-huh

[00:42:53] Nathan: that it’s not own-able.

[00:42:55] Russell: Yeah.

[00:42:56] Nathan: I don’t know. Does anything come to mind of, like,

[00:42:58] Russell: how you position? You should, you should run an au- you should run something like a survey to your audience and get them even, like, like, “Hey, guys, what would you call yourselves that’s- Mm-hmm … is different?” Again, I, I always think about if some are easy, ’cause, like, bootstrap to Bootstrappers is, is an easy one.

[00:43:11] Right. Um, Funnel Hackers was, was more like- You know, the, the community dro- drove it. Round pegs in square holes is, uh, is I just, um, uh, heard that quote. Uh, Steve Jobs did not make that quote, but he’s… Everyone thinks he did it because it was the- Yeah … the Mac commercial about round peg lives in a square hole.

[00:43:29] Um, we had one of our, um, for our higher end coaching program, uh, one of our guys gave, gave a testimonial on video, and I remember he was talking about it, and he’s like, he’s like, “This program is not easy. It’s hard.” He’s like, “But if you’re one of the 1% crazies, this is perfect for you.” And I was like, “1% crazies”.

[00:43:44] Right. So our identity for our coaching program is the 1% crazies. Mm-hmm. So everyone gets these T-shirts that says, “1% crazies,” and they’re all like, “We’re the crazies” and like, and it came from just a testimonial from a member who said something. Right. And that phrase was like, “I am one of the 1% crazies.”

[00:43:56] But again,

[00:43:56] Nathan: it’s identity based. Yeah. Like, the, the round peg, square hole, it’s an identity-

[00:44:01] Russell: Yeah …

[00:44:02] Nathan: uh, based thing, so always looking for that-

[00:44:04] Russell: Yeah …

[00:44:04] Nathan: in a sense. Seth Godin has this line where he talks about, um, in your tribe, right? A movement, tribe, all of that. Um, it’s people like us do things like this.

[00:44:14] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:44:15] Nathan: And so it’s like- Ooh, I love that … okay, well, what’s the, you know, what are the common traits? And I think for our audience with kids- Our customers are the people who are deeply invested in their community, right? Yeah. They’re building valuable businesses, and it’s not just valuable for, for them and their family, but it’s like we’re creating a b- a business that provides real tangible value.

[00:44:36] Like, we’re investing in our audience. So it’d be finding something, like that’s not it, but finding something that-

[00:44:41] Russell: Yeah …

[00:44:42] Nathan: can play on the identity there.

[00:44:43] Russell: Yeah, everyone wants to come up. Like, big part is like going back to your dream audience and they’re getting the testimonial- Mm-hmm … of the guy saying that.

[00:44:48] It’s just like, ah, like they already… Your people already feel that identity. I was telling you before, I heard a pod- a YouTube video, uh, this weekend where the guy was like, “My kit newsletter,” it’s like he’s already identified. It’s not an email newsletter, it’s like his newsletter, it’s his kit newsletter.

[00:45:00] Right. Like he’s, your people are already identifying with you. Um, I would just like listen to what they’re saying and try, to try to find something that can turn to an I am, boom. Mm-hmm. And then it becomes an identity. And then, and then you wrap it in, like our event’s called Funnel Hacking Live. That’s where funnel hackers come together.

[00:45:12] Right. You’re

[00:45:12] Nathan: reinforcing-

[00:45:13] Russell: Yeah …

[00:45:13] Nathan: all these points.

[00:45:14] Russell: Yeah, it keeps coming back together. And then, uh, you come to Funnel Hacking Live and like, again, we, uh… There’s so much swag that we give away. Like every presentation I give, there’s a T-shirt that goes with it that’s an identity thing. Oh, wow. Like, like we did a whole thing about building funnels, and we get the, uh, again, I, uh, I build funnels shirts.

[00:45:29] It’s like, boom, then I, I build funnels. Then we did, uh, when we released our, our email, uh, marketing stuff- Yeah … uh, we called them follow-up funnels. Like, I build follow-up funnels, and people are like, “I build follow-up funnels.” And it’s like, it’s always like trying to like reinforce the identity, the sub identities.

[00:45:42] Um, and then my mi- in my mind, it’s like they’re superheroes. They go home and they’re like, you know, they’re in their normal day thing, and then when they go build on a computer, they, they go to the closet, put a Funnel Hacker shirt on, and sit down like, “Now I can… I’m a super- my superpower’s on. Now I can build a funnel.”

[00:45:53] The shirt’s

[00:45:54] Nathan: on. Noise canceling headphones

[00:45:55] Russell: are on. Yeah, everything’s different now. The music is, uh…

[00:45:57] Nathan: I love it. So they’ve made that identity shift.

[00:45:59] Russell: Yeah.

[00:45:59] Nathan: Now we’ve got stair, like where, where are they going?

[00:46:01] Russell: Yes.

[00:46:02] Nathan: What’s up the stairs?

[00:46:03] Russell: Okay, so this was interesting. So people came to our community, they started doing this, they became funnel hackers.

[00:46:06] We did a couple events. Um, and then with, with people, especially, especially like people that are plugging into a movement, the future-based cause, like it has to be, it needs to become tangible, right? Yeah. There’s a quote from, uh, Napoleon Bonaparte. It says something like, uh, like man, like- Uh, like people will, uh, what’s the quote?

[00:46:27] Something about people would give their entire life for a scrap of ribbon. Like they- Mm … they want an award. They want something, right? And so our third big event, we were doing this, and um, I remember actually I did a podcast interview with a guy who was, um… He’d been in the music industry before, and so he’s like talking at his desk and behind him he’s got all these like records on the wall.

[00:46:45] Yeah. I was like, “Oh, that’s so cool.” Like, uh, he’s like, “Yeah, this is from my,” I don’t know, “Emmy, Grammy,” whatever. This

[00:46:49] Nathan: album went platinum. Yeah. That one.

[00:46:51] Russell: I was like, “This is so cool.” I remember thinking in my head, I was like, it’s not fair that like, like there’s something for, for every profession there’s awards, but in entrepreneurship there’s nothing.

[00:46:59] I was like, “I wish we had an award. I want a record.” And then I was like, what if we created something? And uh, anyway, came up with the name Two Comma Club, ’cause way back in the… There was a newsletter I was subscribed to like 20 years ago called the Two Comma Club. I found that dude and I was like, “Hey, can I buy your domain from you?”

[00:47:13] He hadn’t been publishing, so yes, I bought the domain from him. Uh, we trademarked it and then, uh, I was like, “Hey, w- let’s figure how to get records built,” and we called it Two Comma Club. So two commas and a million dollars. So someone passes- Yeah … a million dollars, let’s give them this record. And at first I didn’t, um, I didn’t really know- what was gonna happen from that.

[00:47:32] Um, and I didn’t know if anyone on our platform had even done it yet. Like, I, I was like, “I have no idea.” So, uh, my partner, Dave, at the time, I was like, “Hey, go, like, you know, go through the database and find out, like, how many people have processed over a million dollars on ClickFunnels and, and let me know.”

[00:47:45] So it took him a day or two to come back. He came back, he’s like, “79.” What? Like, that blew my mind. I didn’t reali- I thought maybe there’d be three or four. Yeah. But, like, 79. I was like, “That’s a big deal.” So our event was coming up, so we called all 79 people and we’re like, “Hey, you gonna be at Funnel Hacking Live?”

[00:47:57] Like, no, like, “You have to come. We have something for you.” They’re like, “Okay.” So these people all came, and then before the very first, uh, or, uh, on day two or whatever of the event, I was like, “Hey, we have something special we wanna do. No one knows about this yet,” and I pulled out this award. Boom, a big old record with two commas in it, and, uh, I was like, “This is, like, for us entrepreneurs, like something to strive towards.

[00:48:17] This is what it looks like.” And, uh, I kinda told the story behind it. ‘Cause for me, like, when I got started in business, there was this guy named John Reese who had made a million dollars in a day. Mm. And that, like, that, like f- like North Star for me to move towards, like he made a million dollars in a day.

[00:48:30] If I can make a million dollars in a year- Right … it, it gave me belief it would happen. If he

[00:48:33] Nathan: can do it in a day, I can do it in a year. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, there’s so many examples where someone shares their numbers in a way, and you’re like- I could actually … it’s like frame breaking. Yeah. I had no idea that that was possible.

[00:48:42] Russell: Yeah.

[00:48:43] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:48:43] Russell: So we do the event, and so we bring out this award. Boom, two commas on it. Yep. And, um, and I was like, “Just so you guys know, there’s 79 people in this room that have won it.” Everyone’s like, “Wait, what?” And then we call the first person’s name, and he gets up and he comes out, and it’s like their peer sitting next to them, and they see someone come up, they’re like, “What?”

[00:48:59] We give the first one, I get a picture with him. The next person, we do it, and it took us, like, I don’t know, an hour and a half to do this. I thought people were gonna just, like, wander away. Nobody budged. They were all sitting there. And, uh, for the entire time, do these awards, and people are freaking out.

[00:49:10] And then we- ‘Cause if

[00:49:11] Nathan: you’re in a room of what was it, like 1,000 people,

[00:49:13] Russell: a couple- Yeah. I think 1,500 people or

[00:49:14] Nathan: something. 1,500 people, and like you’re s- you’re like-

[00:49:16] Russell: One at a time, so we-

[00:49:17] Nathan: Oh, the person who was sitting in front of me. Oh, the person who’s two rows over. Yeah. You know, you’re like, “Wait, you as well?”

[00:49:22] Russell: Yeah. So our audience had all suddenly, everyone had this belief like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, “Hey, dude, I can too.” “It’s not just Russell on stage or the speakers on stage.” Right. Like, “My peers are actually doing this too.” And I asked people afterwards, I was like, “What was that like for you?” And they’re like, “All I could s- like the whole time I’m sitting there, I’m like, next year I’m gonna be on that stage.

[00:49:36] Next year I’m gonna be on the stage.” And sure enough, a year later, we do this again, and like 350 people won it. Next year was like another f- you know. And, uh, to this point, we’re like seven or eight years into this, uh, about once a day somebody wins a two comma award, and it’s just like, just- Wow … it keeps happening.

[00:49:50] And people tell me, like, uh, “I didn’t use your competitor because I wanna win that award. Like, that, that means something to me.”

[00:49:56] Nathan: Right.

[00:49:56] Russell: You know?

[00:49:57] Nathan: And so for anyone who’s not following, the, the two two commas is when you get enough figures in there, right? Mm-hmm. It’s a one followed by a comma, three digits, comma.

[00:50:06] Another comma. Two commas. Three more digits. And so, e- you know, if you’ve built a one comma business, congratulations, you’re somewhere between $1,000 and $9,000.

[00:50:14] Russell: Yep.

[00:50:15] Nathan: Right? But two commas means you broke $1 million. Yep. Which has gotta be this insane… You know, people are like, “I can m- I can earn a living.”

[00:50:23] Yeah. “But, like, I could never do that.”

[00:50:24] Russell: Yeah.

[00:50:24] Nathan: And now you’re saying it’s happening like almost every day. Yeah. And I can see it- You know, the, the dream customer is like, ‘I want that.’ The person who’s on the journey who’s like- Mm-hmm … ‘Oh, this is hard. Let me keep going ’cause I want it.’ The person who’s in the middle of it who says, ‘Actually, I’m gonna switch to a competitor and do something else,’ and they’re like, ‘But I’m at 800,000.’

[00:50:41] I really want that award . I wanna win that award.

[00:50:43] Russell: And what’s interesting too is like, I, I always joke about this, but people are like, “So what’s your role at ClickFunnels?” I’m like, “I’m the belief cheerleader.”

[00:50:48] Nathan: Mm-hmm. ‘

[00:50:48] Russell: Cause if… You know how it is. If someone believes that they can do something, they usually do it.

[00:50:52] The hard thing is like, oh, it doesn’t work for me, and like the belief. Right. And so like this for me became the belief engine where people are like, they see. Mm-hmm. Every event, we still, we’re doing another event, uh, in five months from now, and the owners are doing the event ’cause we canceled our event, but I’m doing an event just for these guys saying, “Come and get their awards,” ’cause it’s like it means so much to them.

[00:51:07] Mm-hmm. And people see it and our community sees it, and it’s like, “I can do this,” and they double down, and redouble down, and keep going. And so that’s what this is. Yeah. Now, I got a couple stairs here.

[00:51:14] Nathan: Okay. I

[00:51:14] Russell: like that. ‘Cause what happens after two or three years, everyone’s getting this, and all the people are like, they won one, and two, and three, and they’re like- Like the future’s gone now.

[00:51:21] Like they, they accomplished it. Oh. And they’re- Yeah … they’re kinda like, “Well, what do we, what do we do now?” I was like, “Well, what happens when you get past 10 million?” I was like, “The Roman numer- numbers X.” And so we made it the next award, and we called it Two Comma Club X, and there’s a big X in it. And, uh, and so they’re like, “Oh.”

[00:51:36] They all freaked out again. Everyone, they doubled down. And then, uh, first year we had… That we re- opened this award, we had, um, 17 people. Next year it was, like, 35 people. And just, it gave them, again, the next thing to start chasing, to go for that, that little scrap of ribbon. ‘Cause all these people started sending to there.

[00:51:51] And then the, uh, next year we had people g- they got multiple of these. Like, “What’s the next thing?” So then we made a big one that was, like, where there’s four records, and each record counts as 25. When you put them together it’s, uh, it’s 100. Okay. And so then they went there. So people kept going, and we’ve got tons of people now that have won.

[00:52:07] I think we’re, like, 3,500 that have won this. Anyway, it kinda goes up, up through there.

[00:52:11] Nathan: I love the idea of always having something that you’ve gotta, you know, move towards and all of that. How many people have won the…

[00:52:18] Russell: The big one?

[00:52:19] Nathan: The big one.

[00:52:20] Russell: You’ll know. You see them in the background of all their videos, ’cause they always wanna show it off.

[00:52:23] Nathan: Yeah.

[00:52:23] Russell: Um, so ag- they get the big one when they get the first record. So 25, they get the first one. Then every time they get another record- Oh, that’s smart … till it fills it. Yeah, ’cause I was like, this is a big jump from here to here. Right. And so we did that. 10

[00:52:32] Nathan: to 100.

[00:52:33] Russell: So you can tell, if you see it on someone’s video, look in the back how many records are actually in there, where they’re at.

[00:52:37] Wow. But people who have qualified for the first version, um, I think it’s, like, 70 or so people that have gotten that. Right. So it’s, it blows my mind. I thought if anyone ever got this, that would be a huge success. And then just- Right. … pe- people grow with you and they, ’cause they’re part of this whole thing, so.

[00:52:50] Nathan: So, okay, so I’m gonna put milestone awards up here.

[00:52:53] Russell: Yeah. So think about that, your version. Like, what do you have? Like, you’re taking people on this journey, this future-based cause. Like, what are the milestones that get them to where they’re going? We just did, we have a certification program. Mm-hmm. We sold certification, did okay.

[00:53:03] When we shifted and we started building this path of, like, all right, uh, in fact, we have a One Comma Club award for certified people. And then we’ve got a bronze badge, and we have a silver badge, and we have all these different things, and just, it’s what moves people through the thing. I mean,

[00:53:14] Nathan: it’s the fundamentals of e- every video game.

[00:53:16] All the… Right?

[00:53:17] Russell: Gamifying it. And what you’re

[00:53:18] Nathan: saying here, you’re just like, you’re like all politics- … all video games.

[00:53:22] Russell: All of it works. We just blend it into our creator business and hey, it, it worked really well.

[00:53:26] Nathan: It worked really well. Okay.

[00:53:27] Russell: Yeah. All right. I want you to draw a big arrow here. Okay. Um, because- Uh, I’m sure a lot of you guys have probably studied the hero’s journey.

[00:53:34] Like, I love it. Yeah. I’m obsessed with it. And what’s interesting, the hero’s journey is great in that there’s a journey the hero’s already always on, right? Which is the journey of achievement. They’re trying to achieve something. Okay. So this is like in any movie, we always know the hero’s trying to achieve something.

[00:53:48] Like Frodo’s trying to get to Mordor to throw the ring in. Rocky Balboa’s trying to win the world- Yeah … like, there’s always, this is the, the journey everyone’s aware of, right? Um, but the reason why people, like, the, the characters are the best, it’s not this hero. They’re, um, uh, my friend, uh, Michael Hauge wrote a book called The Hero’s Two Journeys.

[00:54:03] He’s a Hollywood, uh, producer and scriptwriter, and he said that the, the magic in a script is not the hero of achievement. Everyone knows that’s happening, but the second one is the more important journey, which is called the hero of tran- or the, the journey of transformation. Okay. Who does the person become along the way?

[00:54:17] And so if we draw another arrow down here, ’cause this is like everyone’s trying to get, that’s trying to make a bunch of money. They’re trying to win the awards, and, like, that’s good. That’s the achievement that people want, especially, you know, your dream customers wanna move towards those things. But ideally over time, you’re trying to make somebody become.

[00:54:30] So I’d say journey of transformation. And it was interesting ’cause as we started getting people, uh, going from one comma to two comma to Two Comma Club C, like these different awards, um, it was actually, uh, Al Tramozzi, you guys probably know him. Yeah. One of the biggest creators in the world. He’d won all these things, and then he was like He’s like, “What’s next?”

[00:54:47] And I was like, “I don’t really know.” And he’s like, “You know what I would want?” I’m like, “What?” He’s like, he’s like, “I want to give a million dollars to, to charity.” He’s like, “Do you have an award for that?” I was like, “I will before our next event.” And so we created an award, uh, we call it the Two Heart Award.

[00:55:00] Um, and so there’s two hearts in it, and it’s for somebody who’s donated a million dollars to charity. So he, him and, uh, Alex and Leigh were the first ones to win that, and now I think we’ve had eight people who have done that now. So our audience now, like, yes, they’re trying to do this, but also at the same time we’re, like, trying to make them givers and, uh, and, you know, along the way.

[00:55:17] And it’s cool ’cause- With that impact, yeah … ’cause this, like, this is my favorite award at the event, ’cause you see people come up and it’s just, like, wow, that person, yeah, they did, they, they achieved something, but, like, they’re a great person at giving back. Well, and

[00:55:26] Nathan: that, that brings it back to the movement, right?

[00:55:29] That you’re trying to create.

[00:55:30] Russell: Yeah.

[00:55:30] Nathan: Because then this is all about- Status and s- It’s all- Yeah … all about, you know, this, you know, that dream customer and all that. But then you’re saying, like, look, it’s ultimately about impact, and so let’s systematize-

[00:55:43] Russell: Yeah …

[00:55:44] Nathan: that transformation and the impact that we’re having long term.

[00:55:46] Russell: Yeah. This is, like, again, what creates this, you know? Mm-hmm. It’s this foundation, and then it’s, like, thinking about this process. Like, who’s your dream customer? What’s, like, what am I gonna say to get them into my world, right? And then from there I can give them an identity shift so they’re gonna stay with me, they’re gonna be part of this.

[00:55:59] And then what are they trying to achieve in this future-based cause? Let me make these milestones so that they have, they know if they’re succeeding or not, right?

[00:56:05] Nathan: Right.

[00:56:05] Russell: And then along- And they

[00:56:06] Nathan: see people around them succeeding.

[00:56:07] Russell: Yeah, giving them belief of it. But then help them understand, like, I couldn’t care less if you won any of these.

[00:56:12] Mm-hmm. What I care is that you become this kind of person. Even if you want the money, like, I want you, like, this is, this is when all is said and done. You create that, which again comes back to future-based cause. And, like- Mm-hmm … just all these things, and it makes people stick so much better than just, “Here’s how to make some money.

[00:56:23] Here’s how to lose some weight,” or whatever it might be.

[00:56:25] Nathan: Yeah. So I’m thinking about this, and we’ve talked about doing milestone awards at Kipp for a long time and we’ve never, like, pulled the trigger on- … figuring out exactly what- You totally

[00:56:33] Russell: should.

[00:56:33] Nathan: What to incentivize and, and all of that. Um, are there other companies that you’ve seen do something similar to this, like, so that we can give- Like another example

[00:56:42] Russell: Um, tons of my clients now.

[00:56:44] Nathan: Tons of your clients. Yeah. As you teach this.

[00:56:46] Russell: The company that makes this, I should buy stock in them, ’cause there’s so many people making records and things like that. Um, rehab, they do this, right? They’re bringing these things to pull people through. Right. You think about this in- Here’s your, your

[00:56:55] Nathan: coin.

[00:56:56] Russell: Mm-hmm. Your,

[00:56:56] Nathan: you know.

[00:56:57] Russell: You think about it with, uh, donations, like, uh, charities. A lot of times you come to a charity, and like, “Oh, he’s a gold donor. He’s a silver donor. He’s…” Like, it gives people status as they’re moving- Mm-hmm … mov- moving through things, you know? Like, um, any of the… Like, a lot of these legacy companies that have been around a long time, you look at them and they’ve got some version that’s built into- Right

[00:57:12] what they’re actually doing.

[00:57:13] Nathan: And then I guess simple examples would be, like, YouTube. Uh, you know, they’re past 100,000 subscribers- Yeah. … there’s your plaque. A million, and then 10 million.

[00:57:20] Russell: Yep.

[00:57:21] Nathan: Uh, and then, and again, it’s a status thing, right? Someone will… You’ll see it in their ads. It’s on the, it’s on the wall everywhere they go.

[00:57:26] They’re just like, “Should you trust me, that I know what I’m doing?”

[00:57:28] Russell: Yeah. The plaques say so.

[00:57:32] Nathan: Yeah, exactly. Uh, Shopify does it with, I believe, number of orders.

[00:57:36] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:37] Nathan: And so if you pass 100,000 orders or a million orders,

[00:57:39] Russell: silver, gold. You guys could do subscribers easy. You could do so many- Yeah … you know.

[00:57:42] Nathan: Subscribers is a little hard, ’cause it’s like you want people to clean your list at the same time. Yeah. That’s

[00:57:46] Russell: a good point, yeah.

[00:57:46] Nathan: You know? Um.

[00:57:47] Russell: That’s a great point, actually, yeah.

[00:57:48] Nathan: But, like, an example, you know, our commerce product, um, has good adoption, but it could be way better.

[00:57:53] Russell: Mm-hmm.

[00:57:53] Nathan: And so if you did a whole campaign to get people to sell through Kit Commerce-

[00:57:56] Russell: Yeah

[00:57:57] Nathan: then, like- Well, incentivize that. Yeah. You know, and you can incentivize it monetarily or you could incentivize it with status. And going back to the Napoleon quote, like- They might care more about the little ribbon.

[00:58:08] Russell: 100% they do. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:11] Nathan: That’s amazing. Okay. As we zoom out, is there anything else in here that’s really important or, or that you’re, you know, wanna hit home?

[00:58:18] Russell: I think, and this comes back to, like, the future-based cause I share with my people. Mm-hmm. Like, if you’re happy just selling stuff and having transactions, that’s great, and, like, you can build an, an amazing life on that. But, like, for me, like, that’s what my business was for a long time until it was like I felt like this, this role wasn’t just a role.

[00:58:35] Yeah. Like, it was a calling. Like, I, I believe, um, I believe that there, that for every person on this planet, especially ones who, like, who get, who are drawn into this whole world of, like, entrepreneurship and business building, like, like, that, that feeling that makes you want to do this I think is a calling.

[00:58:50] I believe it’s from God. You can believe whatever you want. And the calling is not for you to make money. God doesn’t care about any of this. What he cares about is that there’s a group of people that you with your information and your stuff, you can change that, that, those people’s lives. And when I actually believe that, like, I’ve been called to change these people’s lives through the stuff I’m doing, that’s what made this fun, as opposed to, like…

[00:59:08] ‘Cause this is work. This is not, like, an easy transaction. They buy, they leave. Like, we’re building community. We’re doing events. We’re doing… Like, this is, this is all-consuming, right? To create a movement, like, this is not just like a, like a part-time thing. And so if you wanna go all in and it, it comes back to, like, do you believe this is something bigger than just yourself?

[00:59:24] If so, like, it’s worth putting the time into, ’cause, like, the transformation of people, like, what happens in this journey for you as the, as the leader, as the guide is insane, and the people’s lives you could change is, is second to none. But, um, it comes back to, like, if you j- if you’re doing it just for the money, you’re gonna stop somewhere ’cause it’s too hard.

[00:59:40] Yeah. But if you’re doing it ’cause, like, you really feel called to do this and you wanna change the lives and the world for the group of people you’ve been called to serve, like, this is the path to do it at a level that, that I think is the highest level we can do.

[00:59:50] Nathan: Yeah. That’s amazing. You have so many great frameworks.

[00:59:53] Thanks for coming and teaching this one.

[00:59:54] Russell: Yeah.

[00:59:55] Nathan: Uh, where should people go if they wanna follow more of your content, learn more of your frameworks- Yeah … use ClickFunnels, all of that?

[01:00:00] Russell: Um, well, if you wanna read… If you want, I, I wrote a book. Yep. Expert Secrets is that book. It goes deep into this. So you can find the book on Amazon or expertsecrets.com if you wanna go really, really deep in just this and really understand it, see tons of examples.

[01:00:10] Um, other than that, just follow me on Instagram or wherever, on Russell Brunson, and that’s where I’m at.

[01:00:14] Nathan: Sounds good. Thank you.

[01:00:15] Russell: Yeah. Thanks, man.

[01:00:16] Nathan: If you enjoyed this episode, go to YouTube and search The Nathan Barry Show, then hit Subscribe, and make sure to like the video and drop a comment. I’d love to hear what some of your favorite parts of the video were, and also, just who else you think we should have on the show.

[01:00:30] Thank you so much for listening.