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Welcome to the Marketing Seekers Podcast. My name is Russell Brunson, and I'm what you call a serial entrepreneur, but with a twist. You see, 50% of my time, I'm the CEO of ClickFunnels, helping over 100,000 brands to grow their companies with funnels. And the other 50% of my time, I'm actually in the trenches using ClickFunnels to grow the startups I believe in. During this podcast, I'll take you behind the scenes and show you how we are bootstrapping ClickFunnels and my other businesses from startup to nine figures and beyond. Welcome to the show.
What's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. You are in luck. Today we're doing another Q&A episode, which should be a lot of fun. Again, these are Q&As that happened at my Inner Circle event. So these are my Inner Circle members asking questions to me on stage. You guys have a chance to kind of listen in like a fly on the wall and hope you enjoy them. These are fun episodes. People have really been enjoying them so far. So the next question is from Luke Jaster.
And the question was about strategy and management and how do you do everything? How do you make your family and your business and more happen all at the same time? And so this is a question people ask me a lot. It's just like, Russell, you seem like you do so many things. How do you do them all? How do you do them all at such a high level without sacrificing your family and your values? There are a lot of people who are producing and doing a lot of stuff, but then they lose their family along the way and things like that.
And so first off, I want to say that I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I am struggling with this daily on a constant, you know. So I try to lay out some of the things that I've done that have helped me and hopefully will help you as well. So with that said, I hope you enjoy this episode here on the Market Seekers Podcast. Q&A time. Hey, Russell. Luke here. First day of Inner Circle. Thank you so much. It's been – Yeah, welcome. My question for you is –
You've got a family, obviously wife, so many kids, you wrestle, you got 15 businesses. How do you make all that happen? I feel like anything I try to do just moves like molasses. It just takes weeks or months. Do you have, is it like hacks that you have? Is it a underlying philosophy? Like, are there two of you? What are you not telling us?
That's awesome. Do you have a team or what's your, what's your. Yes, we, we, we do have a team. Um, I think we lack vision. We, I mean, today I realized that we're doing basically everything wrong. I don't even know how I got it to comic club award. I don't know how you let me into this inner circle. I feel like this big, but my brain is like this now. So I'm all over the place. Uh, I think, I think that, yeah, direction and stuff like that. We're looking for some foundational stuff, I think.
Because we get stuff done, but it just seems to take so long from like one funnel hacking to another funnel hacking. I'm like, oh yeah, we heard that last year and it was so great and I wanted to do it and we started down that road and what happened to that? Where'd that go? Like how did just that through line from start to finish and you seem to just be dropping things like in a good way, like content, programs, businesses, your family seems fantastic.
It's all like in order and I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing so different. Are you not sleeping at night? I haven't slept in a decade. That's what I would assume, but I think it's something else. That's a good question. So, and I'll be first to admit, and you asked my team, like, I am not perfect. I'm a nightmare. Most of the times, like you came to my office, I'm covered in like six foot of old books every day. And like, it's,
it's awesome. I love it. But it's like, it's kind of crazy. Right. But there are a couple of things that have helped me a lot. Um, they came from conversations, rooms like this that were really big for me. So the very first one is, um, uh, Alex Mendoza. When I first got started, it was in a room like this. And he said something that like hit me. He said, there's two types of people in this world. There's, there's people who really get starting things and people go to finishing. He's like, you gotta figure out which one you are and surround yourself with the other. And
And so I look at me, I'm the greatest starter in the history of all entrepreneurship, right? I can start things like crazy, but I'm the worst finisher. Um, you can ask anybody on my team, Ben, am I a good finisher? See, they're like, Ben, help me. I started this thing. Now what do I do? Right. And Jenny and like Brent and all the people. So it's like understanding who you are and then like surround yourself with the other ones. Like that's a big part of it. Right. Okay. Number two then is, um,
For me, it's understanding the hierarchy. It's not the right word because it's not hierarchy. Because all of them are equally important, but they're just different, right? And so there's three ways that people's brains work. One is strategic, right? So there's strategy is number one. And then there's people that are really good at management. And number two is... Or number three then is doing the work. Those who are good at doing it, right? And so a lot of people...
and I struggled with this for a long time, but what I realized is you start to figure out where you actually, like, where's your superpower actually at? And so one of my biggest things I always slip back into is I try to manage people. And so I'm like, oh, I'm going to manage them. I'm going to start putting these together, putting together systems. I'm not, like, I'm the worst at this ever. Every time I try, things fall apart and I think it's done. It's like chaos. It's like a nightmare. Like, even secrets to success. Like, I was managing the whole process because I actually, I love managing the funnel build part. So I'm like in there, I'm getting my hand. I feel like,
The whole thing. And then like the day before we launched or two days before we launched, Kevin, who's really good management, came in the office. So who's like running this after you launch it to the world? I was like, what are you talking about? He's like, well, after like you sell stuff, who's going to take care of the people? I was like, oh, well, there's a membership site for that. He's like, well, who's going to do customer support? I was like, oh, okay.
I didn't think about that. And then like, and this is like the problem I get into. Right. Um, and then Jenny volunteered. Jenny's like, I will come and be the integrator and manager. And so Jenny's come in, who's been my assistant forever. And now she's transitioning to literally be like the integrator operator of this business coming at this level. And then now she, yeah, give Jenny a round of applause.
Now, when Jenny and I sit by each other and she shows me what she's doing here, it stresses me out to the point where I want to kill myself. It's like literally like 5,000 spreadsheets and things like, like the first three days of the launch, she sat in this room and they do a bunch of stuff. And she came out, I wrote a 70 page SOP. I'm like, what does that even stand for? I didn't even know. Right. And I was like, why would you do that? Like, what's the purpose? And I don't understand it. Cause like my brain does not work here. Right.
And so a lot of times what happens, at least for me, I get struggles. It's like, come from here to here. Where I'm really good at strategy. And so when I'm in my best, it's like when I'm sitting down, I'm like, here's the strategy of the thing. And I'm able to explain to somebody this level. They can catch it, ask a bunch of questions, and then they go organize a plan and give it to the people who are doers. Now, I also happen to be a doer in my company because there's things I love to do. Like, I love to build funnels. And so when I come here at strategy, and I'm the boss and I tell...
whoever's the integrator manager, like here's the plan and then they take it. I can step away from it and it's happening. Like right now, so I've got a couple, I've got a bunch of people like this that work under me that help me do these different things, right? So like today in the back, I like messaging Morag who's in the UK, who's one of our managers, like she's amazing. And I send her like 30 different things and I forget about it. And then tomorrow I'll come in and she'll send me a list and like most of them will be done or someone, and she's, she's set up the management process and then she's getting people who are doers. And again, sometimes I am,
I'm the person. Sometimes I'm the funnel builder. Sometimes I'm the copywriter. Sometimes I'm the creative who's got to be on camera. So I might have different roles, but I'm never in this role because this one slows everything down and everything falls apart. And so that's kind of how I look at things. Again, this is like the starter and these are all the finishers. And so in some situations, like when I come in strategy for Secrets to Success, I'm
Jenny works for me. But then when she comes back to me, like, Russell, I need you to do this three, these three trainings. Like I work for her. Like now I'm an employee of her. And so I have that kind of division where I like, this is when she works for me. This is when I work for her type thing. And so all of our departments are similar, right? Like on social media, I'll be part of the strategy. Here's the strategy we want to do. Give it to the social media team. And they come back to me and they're like, hey, Russell, here's the three videos we need. Cause now I work for them.
Right. And so it's kind of figure out where your roles are. Um, and, and really figuring those things out. Cause that's every time I get the plot where I get overwhelmed and things start falling apart is when I'm not in the right lane and I don't have the right people doing things.
right or the other problem we had a lot with click phone specifically is we found people who are the best doers like you are so good at getting stuff done we're gonna send you up to management and we move them up to management and they suck at managing people and this person was a rock star here gets a raise because they go up to management and then we lose them because they're they've been horrible i can't tell you how many times i made that mistake that's what i'm saying like this isn't like hierarchy like this isn't like you are better here like as you ascend up you get better and better it's like just different ways our brains work some people are really good doing the task
Some of you are really good at managing the process and some of you are really good at just the strategy. So it's understanding where you are and the other people and helping them all know their roles and their lanes. Where you're like, look, you're just allowed to do it. Don't ever manage people again, right? Or just managing the people that they're doing. Does that kind of help? It makes sense. Is there anything that you could speak to in terms of personal life, in terms of staying in shape and making sure you're getting nutrition, taking care of your family, like that?
Is that the same framework or something? This is me. This is my wife. No, just kidding. No, um, for me, that's a lot more like time blocking. Um, I think one of the things I'm really good at, um,
I remember Alex Sharfman was part of, he was one of our two Common Club X coaches four or five years ago. And he had everybody do a time study exercise. We were doing that where you get a time and everyone like, as you're doing stuff, you write down, oh, I spent 15 minutes on Instagram. Oh, I spent 12 minutes doing email. And you like time everything down for like a week. It's a horrible process. By the time you're done, you realize you get nothing done like in normal day. I think for me, like I'm the opposite. Like I'm pretty good at blocking out time and then just
cranking on stuff and getting things done. And I try to compartmentalize things very strictly. So for me, I know that like, like if you look at the daily schedule, it's like right here, this is my mornings. So I'm going to get up at 6.30
Five, if it's something that's really important. And from here to about seven, like this is my time where I'm most creative. I'm going to be writing because that's where I got to write or, you know, things where I'm not. And that's like that time. And then my kids wake up seven and this is my time with my kids where I'm driving them to school. I'm hanging out and have breakfast with them. I'm trying to like engage with them. The teenagers, I'm trying to like get them to like acknowledge I exist. But this is like the kid time.
And then at the end of this, I drive, one of my sons, I drive to school. And then I go from there directly to the office. And then this is like my, I have about a 45 minute, which is, this is like my time with God, scripture study, praying, like trying to like get straight in the world. And then 905, I got my first management meeting, which is I jump on a phone. We have a five minute meeting with everybody on our core management team.
basically saying, here's what we're doing today. So that starts nine to five by nine, 10, we're done. And then from nine, 10 till, um, depending on the day, this is where I'm actually working. So if I, if we're doing YouTube scripts or VSLs or whatever, I'm like, I'm writing, I'm strategy, I'm outlining, I'm trying to do stuff, but this is all in a separate office from where my people are at. Like literally a separate office. And I got this from Dan Kennedy when I was at Dan Kennedy's house. And we hear a couple of guys have gone to Dan Kennedy's house recently. Anyone here been in Kennedy's house? I saw three, four inner circle members who like were there anyway. Um,
So you're at Dan Kennedy's house. You go to his basement. He does not have internet access in the entire thing. He's got a fax machine and that's it. And a whole bunch of stacks of boxes and books. And the guy's written like 60 books. And I was like, how do you, how do you, how do you write so much without having internet? And he was like, how do you get anything done with internet? Like he was like, don't you ever feel like you're in the sitting in a strip club the whole day? I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, you can get porn everywhere. Like why, how do you get work done? I was like, I don't know, Dan, I guess I don't look at porn. That makes it easier. So, um, that helps.
But I learned like, like he, he's not connecting to the world. He's just writing. When he does connect, then he'll go and he has a phone call set up or he's fat, you know, like, but when he's working, there's no connection. So when I'm in this role over here, um, there's almost no connection. Like if I need something, I can get on, I can get online. But for the most part, like I'm away and this is like me writing and stuff like that. I'm not doing meetings. I'm not doing messaging. I'm just like, this is my time to try to get stuff done. And
And then when I'm done and this part ends, usually about 11, 1130 or so, then I go over to the other office. I physically leave this office that's just mine, go back in and everyone's there. And that's when I'm like, okay, what do we all like? What do you guys need? What? And I'm giving feedback and giving ideas, working together. I'm trying to drop strategy. I'm trying to do the work that, you know, the work they're needing me to do. And that's kind of the rest of the day.
And then when I leave, then I go home. And like, when I get home, I leave, I leave Russell Brunson in the car and I come in as Russell dad. And then, you know, from whatever it is, five 30 or six till the end of the night. It's just, it's in my kids until nine. We put them on the bed nine till I passed out my wife and I, and that's sacred time. That's their time, not the business's time. And so that's kind of how I structure my day. And it gives me kid time, kid time or kid time, wife time,
God time, work time, team time. And I try to stick that as close as I can. And I'm not perfect at it. Sometimes I'll miss things for a week or two at a time. I kind of reset, but I try to reset back to this because it gets all the things I'm trying to get done into a day. And then I just, when I'm in that time, I try to, I maximize. I'm not sitting around dorking around on, you know, things. I'm like actually doing the work as quick as I can. So, okay. Does that help? Yeah, that's super helpful. Thank you so much. Yeah, so...
But a big part of it, again, it's like having the team around you is the key because anytime I'm trying to do all the things, it just all crumbles. And it's just to get out a lot of really good people. Yeah, it just feels like it's like small steps almost every day. And I'm wondering if you're just like, all right, I need to finish this one big step today. Or is it just like incremental?
It depends. Different seasons, different times. Sometimes I'm just, I'm working towards something. Like I'm writing a book. I'm doing a thing that's like the smaller incremental steps. Other times it's like FHL is coming up or inner circles or something like a big thing. And we set, I set deadlines that are very strict. And as we get closer and closer deadline, I will invest way more, you know, way more time into the thing. And I don't shift deadlines. You can ask my team. If we're like, this is the day we're launching. If we launch, whether we're ready or not.
Cause it has to happen, which causes problems initially support hates me, but then we always figured out eventually. So, uh, and I'm really strict deadline. So when we set a deadline, it doesn't, we don't deviate from that. Otherwise it keeps, otherwise it keeps moving. If you have it there. So my experience. Yeah.