Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Finding Your Message, Building a Tribe, and Changing the World

by Russell Brunson

  As I remembered what that statement did for me all those years ago, I started with that idea, and tried to figure out how to create something similar for my members. After thinking about it for a while, I eventually wrote out a headline that said, “You’re just one funnel away from being rich.”

  As I looked at it, for some reason, I didn’t feel it. I know that some people create sales funnels to get rich, but the majority of our members created companies and used sales funnels not just to get rich but, more importantly, to change the lives of their customers. So I went back to the drawing board. I wrote and rewrote that headline dozens of times.

  “You’re just one funnel away from quitting your job.”

  “You’re just one funnel away from financial freedom.”

  “You’re just one funnel away from growing your business to the next level.”

  “You’re just one funnel away from sharing your message with more people.”

  The more I wrote, the more I realized that no matter what I wrote, it only would reach a percentage of my members. So I deleted the end of the sentence, hoping for some inspiration, and after sitting there for 10 or 15 minutes, I looked back up and saw something interesting. The headline read:

  “You’re Just One Funnel Away…”

  That was it! Because having a funnel means something different to everyone, by not quantifying it, I left it open for their interpretation. So each person could finish the sentence for themselves. If their compelling future was to quit their job, then THAT is the future I’m offering them. If their compelling future is to share their message with more people and try to change the world, then THAT is the future I’m offering that person.

  At our last Funnel Hacking LIVE event, I told stories that showed how this vision was true for me. I talked about each of the major failures that I had during my career, and how each time I was literally saved by a funnel. Twice I’ve been on the brink of bankruptcy, and both times, one funnel got me back to the top. Multiple times I’ve made poor decisions that could have (and probably should have) ruined me, but a funnel saved me. I shared story after story about how that was true for me, in a hope that it would give them hope of what’s possible.

  I now use that message in all my communication with my audience. I sign off in my videos by saying, “Remember, you’re just one funnel away!” I’ve added it at the end of every email I send out. It’s the theme of our events. It’s a constant and consistent call out to our tribe, reminding them of the vision that they have put their faith and hope into.

  To create this, I want you to imagine that you’re running for president, and think about what the slogan would be for your campaign. What do your people really want? Where do they want to go? How can you capture that in a simple calling you could put on a campaign sign?

  2. Help Them Break Their 4-Minute Mile I’m sure most of you are familiar with the story of Roger Bannister who broke the 4-minute mile on May 6, 1954. Prior to that, everyone thought it was impossible, and after Roger broke it, proving it was possible, many people since then have been able to do it. The certainty people get when they see someone else do something they thought was impossible, gives them the belief they need to also achieve that same goal.

  On August 17, 2004, a similar record was shattered that gave me the belief that I needed to chase after my dreams. I had started my online business in 2002 while I was wrestling and going to school. My beautiful new bride was supporting her jobless student athlete, and I felt guilty because I wanted to help provide. But NCAA rules kept me from having a real job, so I turned to the internet with a goal to make an extra $1,000 per month. If my little business could do that, then I would feel like a success.

  For about two years I was learning how this game was played, and had a few small successes, like my potato gun DVD, but nothing huge. At about that time, I heard about an online marketer named John Reese who was about to launch a new product he had created called “Traffic Secrets.” I heard rumors from friends that his goal was to make a million dollars selling that course. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but I was excited to buy a copy of his new course.

  A few days before his launch, I went on a family trip to a lake in southern Idaho called Bear Lake. When I got to that town, I realized there was no internet access anywhere on the lake, except in a small library that had a very slow dial-up modem. About half way through our trip, I went into town and waited in line to get online so I could check my emails. When it was my turn, I opened my email and saw an email from John Reese with a subject line that said, “we did it!”

  I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I opened the email and read a story that changed my life. He said that earlier that day, August 17, 2004, they had launched his new course, and in just 18 hours, they had made a million dollars! As I read that, everything around me slowed down to a stop. He hadn’t made a million dollars total selling his course, he had made a million dollars in less than a day! He had broken the 4-minute mile.

  As I thought more about that, I realized that my goal to make a $1,000 a month was so small. I then realized that to accomplish this goal, he had to sell 1,000 copies of a $1,000 course. And suddenly, it became so tangible and so real for me, and I realized that that is what I wanted to do; I wanted to make a million dollars. It completely transformed what I thought was possible, and because of that, I started thinking differently and started acting differently.

  Within a year of reading that email, I didn’t make a million dollars, but I got close. And the second year I tried it, and I missed it again, but within 3 years, I had made a million dollars in a single year! Then later I made a million dollars in a month. And later we actually made a million dollars in a day! It was something that I didn’t think was possible. It didn’t make logical sense, they didn’t talk about things like this when I was in school, but because John did it, I knew that I could do it.

  I believe that every good movement has something like this that people can aspire to. Inside of ClickFunnels, and our Funnel Hacker movement, we created a club we call our “2 Comma Club.” It is basically a free website where people can see pictures and stories about their peers inside ClickFunnels who have created a funnel that has made at least a million dollars. I want them to see that others before them have actually broken the 4-minute mile, and that they can as well. I want them to start thinking and acting differently, just like I did when I saw that John could do it.

  You can see how we did this at www.2CommaClub.com, or by looking at this image:

  What is the 4-minute mile for your movement? Initially, the 4-minute mile will need to be something that you’ve already accomplished, so you can show them it’s possible and give them hope and belief that they can do it as well.

  As you shift your focus to helping others accomplish the same results, and breaking their 4-minute mile, you’ll notice something strange will happen inside of your movement. Your focus will be taken off of you making money, and into giving results to others, and for some odd reason, as soon as you make that shift in your thinking, almost instantly you’ll start making more money.

  I’m not sure why it works that way, but it always does. And as more of your members break the 4-minute mile, more people will be attracted into your movement and it will start to grow faster than you ever thought possible.

  3. Let Them Self-Identify. Now that you’ve helped people to see the vision of where you are taking them, the next goal is to get them to identify with your movement. People need to be able to identify with who they are in your group, or there will be no connection with you or the other members.

  When we first launched ClickFunnels, I created a webinar that I called Funnel Hacking, and during that presentation I first taught this concept. Later I started to watch as members of our group started to call themselves “Funnel Hackers”.

  I thought this was the coolest thing, so we created a t-shirt with Funnel Hacker on the front. We then started to give this shirt to everyone who opened a ClickFunn
els account. People identified with that name, and it became part of who they are.

  I even had one person who joined ClickFunnels, got the Funnel Hacker t-shirt, who messaged me months later. He told me that while he had never logged into ClickFunnels, he never canceled because he loved his Funnel Hacker t-shirt and felt like he was part of our community, and he didn’t want to miss out on being part of our tribe. That was when I started to realize the power of helping people identify with your movement.

  About a year later, at our Funnel Hacking LIVE event, we had ideas for 10 different t-shirts that we were going to give out to members who attended. We let our members vote on the saying that resonated with them the most. The shirt that ended up winning by a long shot simply stated: “I build funnels.” It helped people identify who they are within our movement.

  When someone joins you, they need to be able to identify by saying, “I’m a __________.” When they can do that, they have an identity shift, which is very important. They get a new identity as part of the group. They become like a new person, putting the past behind them and looking toward their new future.

  Brandon and Kaelin Poulin from my Inner Circle had built a good weight loss company based around her maiden name, Tuell. Their company at the time was called Tuell Time Trainer and they had built up a good following of people who loved what Kaelin taught.

  I talked to them about this concept of getting people to self-identify with your movement, and they realized that, because of how they had named their company, it was very difficult for others to buy into it. Because her brand was HER maiden name, her customers could never identify with it. So while they followed her as a charismatic leader, she wasn’t creating a movement. There was no cult-ure. I pointed that out at one of our meetings, and they knew that to get to the next level in their business, they would need to make a change.

  As they were flying home from the meeting, Kaelin had an idea. She thought Lady Boss Weight Loss. That’s what it’s going to be! Then they will say, “I am a Lady Boss.”

  By the time they had landed, they had changed their messaging. They quickly launched the cult-ure, and within three months they saw their customer churn drop by 10% (which for them was equal to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year). On top of that, their TRUE fans—the ones who will purchase anything and everything they produce—now identify themselves as Lady Bosses and continue to grow by hundreds of new people every day.

  Recently I’ve been working on a new supplement business, and I was trying to figure out what I could put on our packaging that would get our new customers to identify with our product and movement we are starting to create. The new product is an energy supplement called Ignite. I knew it would be hard to figure out who our supplement was for, because there are literally thousands of energy supplements.

  So I started asking myself, “Who is this for? Everyone?” No, I needed to find my niche within the energy submarket. The problem with most energy drinks is that they’re for everyone, which makes it really hard to compete. I know others target pre-workouts in the fitness submarket, but that’s not who we were targeting either.

  I knew that if we were going to have success, we needed to call out our people and get them to come to us. So I started to think, “Who are our people?” When we created the supplement, I thought it was going to be for entrepreneurs, so should we call it “Ignite: Energy for Entrepreneurs”? But then I realized that it wasn’t just entrepreneurs. In fact, everyone who was pulling all-nighters when we were trying to launch ClickFunnels was using it, so it was also for coders.

  And then, almost like a bolt of lightning, I had the inspiration. I remembered an old Apple commercial where Steve Jobs recited this quote:

  Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

  After finding that quote, I knew who our energy drink was for. Now we call it “Ignite: Energy For Those Who See Things Differently.” People say, “Yes, that’s me! I see things differently. I’m a rebel, an entrepreneur, a coder…someone who is trying to change the world.” So that is how I create something that people can identify with.

  To get people to identify with your movement, come up with something simple that you can put on a t-shirt your members could wear that would make them identify with your movement. Think “I’m a __________” or “I __________.”

  I’m a Funnel Hacker.

  I’m a Lady Boss.

  I build funnels.

  I see things differently.

  I’m a biohacker.

  What would your tribe wear proudly on their chests?

  4. Create your own Title of Liberty. In the ancient Americas, a military commander named Captain Moroni led an army into a war they couldn’t win. Some of his troops started to lose faith in their mission, and some even left to join the enemy forces. The captain needed to do something quickly to save his army and his people. The story goes that he took his coat and tore it into a makeshift flag. And he wrote on it, “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children.” Then he put that flag on the end of a pole and called it the Title of Liberty.

  When people saw it, they rallied around their leader Moroni, and in a scene that I can only imagine was similar to Mel Gibson’s famous freedom speech from the movie Braveheart, they renewed their faith in the cause and went on to win the war.

  Your cult-ure needs a Title of Liberty. Something they can look at when they’re feeling doubtful—a rallying call. Something that will help them know who YOU are, remind them who THEY are, and refocus them on where you are going together.

  There are different ways to create a Title of Liberty for your group.

  Title of Liberty #1: The Mini Manifesto I got the idea for this one after I saw some of the cool things that Brandon and Kaelin Poulin were doing inside their cult-ure. They had all their women save this as the background image on their phone, so every time they turn it on (dozens of times a day), they are reminded what it means to be a Lady Boss.

  It didn’t take long after I saw that to create a mini manifesto for my Funnel Hackers and get them saving it as the background on their phones. Here’s what we created:

  We took the phrase we created to help them identify with our group, then plugged in our core values to remind them what it means to be part of our tribe.

  Title of Liberty #2: The Manifesto Do you remember the scene in Jerry Maguire where he stays up all night because he’s inspired about how things should be, and he writes a mission statement that he calls “The Things We Think and Do Not Say”? He talks about what’s wrong in their business and how things could, and should, be.

  When I created our Funnel Hacker manifesto, I thought through a similar process. What was wrong in our industry. What were the things I hated about business that I felt weren’t right for actual customers. A lot of it had to do with venture capitalists and how they destroy entrepreneurs and the cult-ure of those tribes. I wanted to create a divide between entrepreneural startups and VC-backed startups, something that my tribe would resonate with. It took our core values from our mini manifesto and made them bolder, something people would stand behind.

  We then had our members print this out and frame it next to their computers, or make it their desktop background. That way, they’d never forget what we stand for. Here is our manifesto:

  Title of Liberty #3: Video Title Sequence (More Advanced) All TV shows start with a title sequence that people hear over and over again. Think about the show Friends and almost instantly you’ll be singing “I’ll Be There For You” by t
he Rembrandts. What song do you think about when I mention the show Seinfeld or The Simpsons? These songs are burned into our minds and immediately take us back to the feelings we have associated with those shows.

  I wanted to create something similar for the videos we created for our Funnel Hacker community, so we created a video that became our rallying call. When my cult-ure hears it, they are very clear on who we are, why they should be involved, and where we are going. People who resonate with it will join our cause; those who don’t will be pushed away.

  I’ve broken down the elements of my video into a script you can follow to create your own. You can see the video at www.FunnelHacker.tv. Here’s how the script goes.

  Identify the charismatic leader. Who are you?

  My name is Russell Brunson.

  Identify the movement.

  I’m part of a group of underground entrepreneurs you’ve probably never heard of.

  US vs. THEM

  • Take a stand.

  We don’t rely on cash from venture capitalists to get started, and we don’t even have goals to go public either. In fact, our motivation is the exact opposite. We have products and services and things that we KNOW can change people’s lives.

  • Why are you different?