Look What Happens When I Start Coaching Myself

Welcome to Marketing in Your Car, the podcast for funnel hackers everywhere. You're now part of a small group of underground entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world through the products and the services that we believe in. But because we don't rely on venture capitalists, we don't have financial safety nets. So we have to do things differently. We have to do things smarter. We do that through an art and a science we call funnel hacking. This podcast will give you a glimpse at the daily life of a funnel hacker. So let's get started. Hey everyone, this is Russell Brunson, and I'm excited to have you here for Marketing Your Car. It is Halloween, which is my favorite holiday, and it's one of the days I look forward to the most of the year. And it's funny because so far today has been a tough one. It's 2:17, I'm heading to my kids' school for the playground, for the Halloween parade, which I'm really looking forward to, and then we have Halloween stuff tonight and everything. So I'm just curious, so people always ask me all the time, Russell, how do you get so much stuff done, blah blah blah blah blah, and I usually pride myself in that I can like handle a lot of weight on my shoulders. But today I kind of like collapsed a little bit underneath that weight. And I know we don't normally talk about those kind of things, but I just want to kind of talk through it because it'll make me feel better probably. But on the other side, hopefully it helps you guys somehow, who knows. So it's funny, Dan Gable, who's one of, he's like the Michael Jordan of wrestling. I was watching a thing one time when he was coaching, and he was one of the best wrestlers of all time, then also one of the best coaches of all time of any sport. And they'd won like, I don't know, 20 or 30 NCAA championships in a row, and someone asked him if he believed in pressure. He said, well, I believe there's pressure there, but I just don't believe in putting myself underneath it. I think for the most part, I try to take that approach. I'm not putting myself under pressure. Like, it's there, but I'm dodging it. I'm getting around, and we just keep moving forward, right? But today was one of those days where I felt like it all just hit on my shoulders, and it was just like, ugh, like I just couldn't handle it all. So it's actually good I'm leaving, but It's kinda crazy, we've got, we had the Inner Circle last week for 4 days, which is so much fun and I love it. It's hard though at the same time 'cause it's 4 days, I'm pretty sure it's 5, it's pretty much a whole week that you kind of, you're not in the office moving things forward, so there's stuff happening, especially when you're running a big company, there's a lot of stuff. And then usually we have 2 or 3 weeks between each mastermind, but this week, this time 'cause of timing and stuff, we had back to back, so in fact, tomorrow mastermind starts tomorrow, so I basically had 1 day today, well part of a day, till 2 to get it done, everything for all of last week and all of next week. Basically after that, I'm kind of out of commission again. I had a whole bunch of stuff trying to get done. Today was just like, hey Russell, you're here, the brunt of everything's all falling. It was just tough because— oh, and then this weekend also, we're trying to get the Expert Secrets book done in time for the live event. Basically told me that to do that, we had it all done like next 2 weeks, which means I have to have it all done this week, which means we don't have this week to do it. So I spent all day this weekend editing the book. I spent all day yesterday and I spent half of today and so far I got the introduction and part of chapter 1 done. And so I was totally stressed about that because if I don't have the book for the event, it throws off this huge timeline sequence of events around that. So that's kind of crazy. And then for my church, I've got 2 callings. I'm the 11-year-old Scoutmaster and I'm also the secretary for a group called the Elders Quorum. So that's like 2 assignments. And then we got called yesterday, they called us asking if my wife and I would take on the work Christmas party, which means we basically are in charge of throwing a party for like 500 people. Plus my wife also has the company Christmas party like a week after that. So it's like there's new pressure there. And then, oh, I can't even like, if I told you all the things, I don't think most people would believe me. There's just a whole bunch of stuff on the ClickFunnels side, there's a bunch of stuff on the sales side. I've got tons of Inner Circle members messaging me questions. It's fun, I love going back and forth, but sometimes it adds up. Like right now I've got probably 30 messages from Inner Circle members on Voxer that I'm behind on. And I know half of them are gonna be here tomorrow, so I'm stressing I gotta catch up on those. And then the Funnel Hacker TV episodes we've been filming, feels like a lot of the entrepreneurs who we're doing stuff for are coming back like needing help and getting stuck and can't move through the process, need me to, rewrite webinars or review things or check things. And then I got— I feel bad. One of the guys on my team, he wrote a book and wanted me to write the foreword for it. I've been telling him for like 2 or 3 months I was going to. I just have not had time. And then today he was asking about that and wanted to meet about something else and all these things. It was just like all these things just came to a point today where I was just like, I don't know what to do. So, oh man. Anyway, so yes, I feel pressure. And yes, some days it's tough. Some days it's really tough. Today was really tough. I'm not gonna lie. I feel like It's funny 'cause I'm so excited to go see my kids in the parade, but I'm feeling guilty because of that, 'cause I feel like I have so much to do, but I'm like, "God, what's the point of doing any of it if I can't go to my kids' Halloween play?" You know what I mean? So anyway, that's kinda where I'm at right now, but I don't want anyone to be concerned about me. It's funny, every time I do a podcast where I kinda rant a little bit, it's like I always get everyone messaging me, like trying to help, and it's not that I need that. I just needed a place to vent, and hopefully it gives you guys some, Whatever it is unique. I know all you guys go through that as well. We all do. There's so many things happening and I'm the king of like over-committing. I get so excited by things. I say yes, I do this and that and then it builds to the point where I just like I can't handle it all. So anyway, before I left the office, I did a couple things. I tried to buy myself an extra 2 weeks on the book which is relieving pressure. I haven't heard back. Hoping that works. I'm just kind of trying to go back to all these commitments I have and just placing more realistic timelines and cutting some things out and do things like that and it'll be good. By the time— We got Mastermind this week, which again, I'm so excited. The two groups that are coming, it's gonna be nice. It's gonna be just unplugging, just stop stressing about everything, just hang out with some amazing entrepreneurs. It's funny, I don't normally care about politics too much, even the stress of this election, 'cause I'm stressed out if either side wins. I don't want either of those. Election's coming, so I'm really excited just to hang out with entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world for the next 4 days, which that's, I'm looking forward to that. And it's gonna be good, and I'm just gonna kind of I think one of the problems I have is like one of the things that make me good at what I do is also becomes one of the constraints is I'm really good like placing, like I've talked about this a lot in different trainings, like letter gold. Like I set deadlines for myself like when things have to happen. And sometimes I forget in my mind that I set those deadlines and they're not actual deadlines. So I think it's me coming back to a lot of my letter gold deadlines for things I haven't and reshifting them, which is against what I tell you guys to do. It's like set a letter gold, letter goal deadline, then don't deviate from it unless you're gonna kill yourself, right? And I tell you guys that because it's true for me. Like when I set a deadline in my head, like this has to happen this day, like it has to happen that day. And I put so, like it becomes so real for me that like I put myself in insane amounts of pressure because of that. And so for me, I think it's gonna come back and I just got to tonight hopefully get some extensions like on the book and a couple things like that. And then kind of reset some timelines. And I gotta get better at telling people no. I get so excited about opportunities and about everything that I just, I just say yes to things way too easy. And so I gotta get better at the magic word no. So I feel like I'm coaching myself. Like if one of my Inner Circle members boxed me this the last 7 minutes, I know exactly how I'd coach them. So I'm kind of coaching myself as if I'm me. So Russell, the first thing I would do is you gotta set realistic expectations. I know you think you're the man, but you're not. You can't survive everything. Second thing I would do is you've gotta go back to these people you made commitments to and you've gotta tell some people no. And it's gonna be hard, it's gonna hurt their feelings sometimes, but it's not personal. Personal and you know it's not and you just have to help them understand that it's not and that you love them but it's just not possible and you're going to crack and then everything will fall apart for you and for everybody if you don't. So that's the second thing I would do. The third thing, Russell, you should do is you should— let's see— is you need to get your book extension. If you have to pay more money, whatever that takes, just tell them that you got to make the extension and that you will pay whatever it takes to make that work. Money could hopefully help solve that problem, get that out of the way. With these other people you're working with in the Funnel Hacker TV, remember these are businesses you're helping with, you're not doing those businesses. You need to put the, the onus back on them and get them to work harder and get them to think through things. You can't answer every question for them. They need to understand that and let them run, let them kind of run with it and just do it. And that's going to help them grow actually more because you're so stressed about them making money and you forget that it's not about money, it's about growth for them. If they don't grow, then every time you take your eye off the focus, it's all gonna collapse again. Help them understand that. And leverage people on your team. Everyone wants to help you, and sometimes you're scared to ask for help because you know everyone's doing so much anyway, and you just think you can just add it to your plate and not worry about it. But they're there to support you and help you, and so make sure you leverage them because again, if you If you're not able to handle this, it's really bad for all of them. They've put their lives and their hearts and their souls into it as well, and so it's important that they do what they need to do and you do what you need to do, and they want you to be there. So those are the things I recommend, Russell. Hope that helps. I'll talk soon. So that's how I'd box myself. So there's my advice to myself. Hopefully you take it for yourself as well. I actually feel a lot better just saying that all out loud, so thank you guys for bearing with me. The other thing that's— interesting, like when, you know, we talk about hiring consultants all the time and it's funny, we're always like, well, if we were to hire ourselves as consultants, what would we tell ourselves? And then usually we know all the answers. So you guys just saw me do it here live. I just consulted myself. You should try consulting yourself the next time you have an issue and you'll probably solve all your problems pretty quick. All right, so with that said, I am at school. I'm about to run in and go see my kids dressed up as Halloween costumes, which is gonna be amazing. We're gonna have a ton of fun and everything else is just gonna fade away. I'm gonna get into a state, be with my kids and my family right now. And business Russell is turning off 'cause now that stuff actually matters, and dad is turning on because that is what matters. That said, you guys, don't forget, there's a famous quote from David O. McKay says that no success can compensate for failure in the home. So go to your kids' Halloween parties, have some fun. I'll talk to you all again soon. Thanks so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed the behind-the-scenes look at our funnel hacking project. You can also watch the Funnel Hacker online reality show and watch watch us build and launch funnels live at www.funnelhacker.tv. If you'd like to come hang out with your fellow funnel hackers, come join our Facebook group at www.projectclickfunnels.com. Oh yeah, and don't forget, you can get a free MP3 player with the first 257 episodes preloaded at marketinginyourcar.com. Join us next time, and remember, you're just one funnel away from your dreams.