When You Follow the Framework, This Happens… Ryan Lee’s Inspirational Story and Strategies Revealed! | #Success - Ep. 79

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Do you have a funnel but it's not converting? The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good, but you suck at selling. If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next selling online event by going to sellingonline.com/podcast. That's sellingonline.com/podcast. This is the Russell Brunson Show. What's up everybody? This is Russell Brunson and I'm here today with, uh, a podcast episode interview. I don't know what to call this. I'm actually really, really excited for. So, uh, growing up in elementary school, I had a friend named Ryan Lee, and we went to elementary school together and high school— or middle school together and high school together. And then I didn't see him for like, I don't know, what, 15, 20 years, something like that. And then one day I get a message from him, and, uh, he was like, hey man, look what I'm doing. I'm doing this lighting business. And, uh, then he came to Funnel Hacking Live, and like, just today's the first time we actually had more than like 5 seconds to talk to each other. I was just on his podcast. And now we're doing mine. And what's cool is what he's doing is he's built this really cool business teaching people who do landscape lighting how to grow their companies and their businesses. And, and so I want to talk to him today about his story, what he's doing, a whole bunch of other really cool things I think would be valuable for you guys. But mostly I'm just pumped to like kind of reconnect with him and get to catch up with him. It's been kind of fun. And I didn't realize that him getting into this world started with the TV show The Profit. So anyway, Ryan, how are you doing today, man? And glad to have you here.

Dude, I'm stoked to be on here. It's kind of crazy because I literally, I was watching TV one day and I'm watching The Profit. I mean, who doesn't like that show if you're an entrepreneur, right? Watching that. And I'm like, oh, there's Russell Brunson. What, what, what's Russell Brunson doing on The Profit? Like, he shouldn't be on The Profit. I don't know someone on TV. Do I know someone on TV? I literally go to Google and I put in your name. I'm sure I put in your name, Russell Brunson, The Profit, right? And it's like ClickFunnels, whatever. I'm like, what the heck is a ClickFunnel? Like, that was the weirdest name at the time, you know? And then all of a sudden, a couple clicks later, I'm pulling my credit card out. It was the 108 split tests. Yes. I'm like, that thing got me, man. I was like, that's cool. Because I was, you know, I owned a lighting business at the time and I was trying to figure out marketing. I was testing Facebook ads, Google, and I was always trying to figure out how I could get more stuff. So I saw that and I was like, heck yeah, take my money. And then the rest is history, man. I've been brainwashed ever since.

How many years ago was that then?

How many years you've been doing this now? Do you remember when that was? I think it was like 2017, 2018, because I sold my lighting business in 2019, and I know it was a couple years before that, so maybe '18.

Okay, that's crazy.

6, 7 years ago. And then I had— I heard about you had a Funnel Hacking Live, but I hadn't— again, I didn't even know what a funnel was, so I'm not going to go to Funnel Hacking Live yet. So that— there was one in Dallas which I missed, and that's, that's right when I found out about you and your company. And then I started like implementing it and I was like, oh, this is cool. And then the first Funnel Hacking Live I went to was in 2020, right before COVID Oh yeah.

Yeah. That, that event happened. COVID was like a week later.

It was crazy. Yeah. I think there was some, some controversy. They were saying, did COVID happen at Funnel Hacking Live?

And we were the super spreaders. We spread it around the world.

Yeah.

We'll take credit for that. It was awesome. Well, yeah, it's crazy. 'Cause like, again, for everyone, like we went to elementary school together, middle school, high school, and then, you know, so I'm curious, I wanna know like post-high school, that's the last time we connected. And then you like walk us through like that to like you starting the actual landscaping business. 'Cause that's the first part of the story is you actually came out and learned this business, became an expert and did that stuff before you ever transitioned to other stuff. So walk me through that part of the journey.

Yeah, so actually when I went to Utah State, you know, and I got a marketing degree and just mainly because I was like, what do you get a degree in? And I had to pick one after like 2 years and I'm like, marketing? That sounds nice. Is that the same as sales? I think I like sales. So I didn't even know. Continued on with the— my father-in-law was like, so when are you getting your MBA? And I'm like, right now. So I decided to get my MBA. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah, I just went straight on, like no work experience. You know, I just literally was like, okay, father-in-law, is this acceptable? So did that. But while I was in my MBA classes, um, we— I got married in, um, in college as well. And to get married, I didn't have any money. I was making like, you know, $7 an hour in college. My wife and I cleaned windows for the summer. We knocked doors at my mom's— I lived in my mom's basement. We knocked doors and we made like $10 grand, which at the time I was like, holy cow, we made $10 grand, we can get married. And so I thought, yeah, I was like, we're gonna take over the world. And so I thought that like, okay, like maybe I should be an entrepreneur, maybe I could do this. But let's face it, it wasn't a business, it was a, it was a summer job that I had made some money. I moved, had to go back to school, so I stopped doing that. But while I was in my marketing classes, while I was doing my MBA, I, my brother had moved down to Texas from Utah and he was trying to, he was actually running from the law. Like, that's not a joke, he was literally like into drugs and all this crazy stuff. And he cleaned up his life. And I said, you should, you should try window cleaning. So he had started this little window cleaning business. Him and one other person were, you know, kind of doing all the work. And I'm thinking, man, how could we blow up this window cleaning business? Like, now he's got street smarts, I've got the book smarts. Like, let's do this. Well, we— I convinced my wife we're going to do this window cleaning business. We go down to Texas and we make an offer on a house. We buy this house while we're like there. We're sitting in his hot tub. I'm not kidding. All good ideas happen in a hot tub. He goes, hey, I, when you get down here, we should talk about lighting as well. And I'm like, what, what, what do you mean? And he said, yeah, I just did these two landscape lighting jobs and they were $4,000 each. And I'm like, $4,000? Like, who pays $4,000 to put lights on their house? You know, we went to East Sandy Elementary. People don't spend $4,000 to put lights on their house. That was insane. And, and he's like, yeah, I guess it's like, that's not even like a very big job. I'm like, dude, if what you're telling me is true, I'd much rather sell a $4,000 lighting job than a $250 window cleaning job. Maybe we should do a lighting company. He goes, serious? I'm like, yeah. So we go to GoDaddy that night and we buy the domain. We tried to buy a bunch of domains, they were already taken, but we bought majesticoutdoorlighting.com. Ooh, that's cool. And that's how we got into, uh, the outdoor lighting business.

Dang. What year were that?

Was that? 2007. Okay.

And then how many years did you run that business for?

So I went through all the phases. The first 2 years sucked, but I lied to myself. It's the honeymoon phase. I'm like, hey, this is awesome.

I'm an entrepreneur for ourselves. Yeah.

Yeah. And I talked to my friends back at home in Utah and I'm like, yeah, you guys, you guys aren't making any money and you have to work till 5 every day. And I'm like, I have to work till 11 at night. Like I was working crazy hours, not making any money. But it, we went through the ups and downs, um, went through all so many pain, painful learning experiences growing that business. Cuz even though I had a marketing degree and MBA, I didn't learn about how to build culture. I didn't learn about all the things that you're gonna experience as an entrepreneur. But it was cool because I actually got paid to build that business and learn all those experiences. So had that business for 12 years. My brother and I actually were partners. And he bought me out mainly because it wasn't working the way I wanted. See, I wanted to, like, he wanted to go left to the lake. We were like wake surfing, like whenever we wanted. And I was like, but I think there's more out there. Like, what about if we go to Houston and Austin and then we do world domination and get 25 locations and sell the private equity for $200 million? You know, like that was where I was thinking. He's like, dude, you work too much. Like, why do you want to work so hard? So he wanted to go left to the lake. I wanted to go right to the promised land. And what happens? We go down the middle and no one's happy. He, he thinks I work too much. I think he doesn't work enough. And I learned these lessons the hard way. But there was a book I read called Traction, which really breaks down like visionary and integrator and all these things. And I knew at that moment that something was going to have to happen. And again, he's super street smart. He's not the business guy. So it just made sense for him to buy me out. Um, and we moved back to Utah and, um, been here since 2019.

Is your brother still running the business now?

Yeah. Yeah, actually, you know, people were like, so like, did it grow when you left? Like, were you holding him back, you know, or did it crash and burn? Um, it's pretty much maintained. I mean, he's had some up years, he's had some down years, but it's pretty much, uh, where it's at. And luckily we had good enough systems and, and, and branding and advertising and, and stuff in place. So Yeah, he's still running that business.

That's cool. Before we get to like the new coaching business you ended up building, I want to go back to like, what were the, like, the, as you were building that business and growing, what were the unique things that you like, you learned that now you're coaching people on that, you know what I mean? Like typically when someone goes through a process, that's when they're learning and discovering and it becomes the success story for your future, like coaching business. But I'm curious what things you discovered or figured out that nobody else was really doing that that, you know, gave you the ideas for this future stuff?

It's crazy when you ask that because I had no idea that it was— that God was preparing me for all of this, right? Yeah. I thought I was so, so cool. You know, I was like, hey, why would these people charge so much? We're going to go into this market. And people at the time, when you talk about lighting, it's kind of charged per light. And so people were charging like $225 per light installed with wire and transform, all this stuff. And I was like, dude, we could do this for like $175. And so that was our strategy. I'm like this genius, like we're going to give them the same thing but less price. Well, that ended up being the thing that held me back for years, why I couldn't afford to grow. And I'm like, how do these people do it? How do they afford to get a shop? How do they get an admin? How do they have 12 trucks? And I'm like, duh, they charge the right price to be able to afford to do it. So that was kind of like learning moment number one. It took years to figure that out, unfortunately. It's like, oh yeah, I have to start acting like the company I want to be, not like who I am today. And the company that I want to be that's doing millions and millions of dollars a year is gonna have multiple salespeople. It's gonna have a shop, it's gonna have an admin, it's gonna have a secretary, it's gonna have all these things. And what does that company, how much does that cost to run? I figured these things out. And again, a lot of this, I didn't know what mentors were. I didn't know what coaching was. I would ask my clients, cuz in, in lighting, your clients are successful people. They, They don't need landscape lighting. They're buying it because they— how it makes them feel. And so these are CEOs, business owners, and I would ask them, I'd say, hey, what do I do here? And they go, have you thought about this? I'm like, no, I've never thought about that. So they became my mentors. And luckily, like, again, I got paid mentorship. They were paying me to mentor me, which is really, really cool. So pricing was the number one thing. Then I— then it became the challenge of growing the business. And it's like, okay, how do we get more leads? Um, we did all the traditional stuff— direct mail, social media, all the stuff— but I wanted to, I wanted to go more. And I realized at some point, I'm like, how do we get into the nicer homes? I would see like, how did that lighting company get that $5 million house? And because our, our marketing wasn't working, and I realized it came through— we got a, we got a referral one time from a landscaper into a project. It was like a $25,000 lighting job. I'm like, Dude, I just want to do $25,000 lighting jobs all day. And it came from the landscaper. So I'm like, light bulb, you know, no pun intended. Like, there's probably other landscapers that could refer us and other home builders and pool builders. And so we really doubled down on that strategy. So that was the second thing, was like, okay, how do we, how do we scale this business and get high-qualified leads? So number one was premium pricing, number two was qualified leads, and then the third one I didn't really realize this was a big thing until I started my coaching business, is I'm kind of lazy. Like, I don't like to follow up. Like, if I go and meet with you and you want lighting, I'm just going to be like, hey, do you want lighting? And you're going to say, I don't know, I got to think about it. And I'm going to be like, what do you got to think about? Like, I'm gonna call overcoming objections. Like, I'm just gonna help you make a decision because I don't want to follow up with you. I know you're not going to answer my phone call anyway, you know. And so I just literally because of my, like, I don't want to follow up with you and play that game. I'm just gonna get a yes, no, or the police called on me when I'm at your house. Okay. And so those, those three things kind of became the pillars of, of, like, our coaching business. Like, it wasn't the design, it wasn't the installation. Most people in business don't start businesses because they're good business people. They're good technicians. They're good at building funnels, they're good at installing lights, they're good at design, they're good at whatever, but they lack these business kind of fundamentals. And so those 3 items kind of became the pillars of Landscape Lighting Secrets.

That's so cool. I love it. Okay, so then fast forward. So then you, you sell the thing, you move back to Utah, you watch the TV show The Profit. Was the first thing like, I'm gonna go start a landscape coaching business, or is that directly you went to? Or I'm curious, like, oh, where that kind of evolved. If it was like me, we're like, I'm gonna make potato gun DVDs. Or if you like, what was the next step in the process?

Dude, that was not on the agenda at all. In fact, I didn't know it was on the agenda. People were like, what are you gonna do? You gonna start another lighting business? I'm like, I think people in Utah are cheap. I grew up there. I don't wanna start a lighting business there. I started doing digital marketing 'cause I had ran my own marketing before. So I had friends that are like, hey, we saw how you built that lighting business up to millions of dollars a year. Could we hire you to build our site? Could we hire you to do this stuff? And I was like, sure. So I literally just kind of on the side started this digital marketing agency. And I remember watching some of your videos and you'd be like, you know, what are you called to do? And I'm like, I'm not called to do anything. Like, I don't even know what you're talking about, you know? And, um, I go to Funnel Hacking Live. This is my first one in Nashville. There, there was a guy, I can't remember if he was like one of the speakers on stages or I met him, but I remember he, he had a course on how to raise goats. And I was like, how's this guy doing like a million dollars a year on a course on how to raise goats? And so I was like, is my calling to teach people how to raise goats?

Like, could that be my calling?

I could do that. Yeah. And so I remember thinking of all the things they're like, and you would be like, what are you an expert at? What are you good at? And I'm like, I'm not that egotistical. Like, I'm not that— I, I like to ride dirt bikes, I mountain bike, I, I surf, I, I do stuff, I snowboard, I know lighting. But like, I'm not better than you. Like, who am I to say that I'm better than you and that I'm gonna like be the leader? Like, I, I really struggled with that, Russell. I was seriously just like, I'm no, I'm no better than anyone else at anything. But I kept meeting person after person after person at Phone Hacking Live, just, you know, cuz you guys have us like hugging each other and high fives and running to be the first one in and stuff like that. Uh, so I'm meeting these people and I was, and they would, and they told me, they're like, dude, when you, when you talk about landscape lighting, like you light up. Mm-hmm. That's your thing, man. I'm like, it is? Like, what do you mean that's my thing? And like, and I did, I didn't listen. I didn't listen at the time, but that's what they were saying. And I realized that. Through that moment, I was like, okay, maybe I, maybe I've got something here, but I think landscape lighting's too small. I was like, I'm probably, there's probably 2 people. I'll build this funnel. I'll like 9 months later, they'll hire me and then I'll be broke and I'll go back to digital marketing. I'll do an agency, you know? So I decided, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna do home service. Like if, if you're a painter, an HVAC company, like all these— if you're dealing with a homeowner, my pricing, my sales, my marketing strategies will help. And I, and I really felt like that's what I was going to do. So what I did is I, I launched a funnel right after Funnel Hacking Live, and I did a— I can't remember exactly what the offer was, but I did something like, give me your email for free if you want. Or I think I sold a $7— it was a $7 thing, PDF, and then their upsell was $47. And then the up, then I did an upsell to that was $300 for like the super course. You know what I mean? And I'm not kidding, dude. I must've, I can't remember how much I spent on Facebook ads, but I spent money. I drove traffic to it. We're driving from Utah to Idaho and I'm telling Lindsay, I'm like, I just turned this thing on. Like, this is pretty exciting. I don't know what's gonna happen, you know? And like an hour goes by. We could lose all our money. Yeah, well, I didn't tell her that part, but we're driving and all of a sudden, ding, and I get a notification from Stripe and I'm like, I just made $7. Like, holy cow, I'm driving on the freeway and I made $7. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't do anything. This is crazy. And then all of a sudden, like an hour later, I get $47. And then like 10 minutes later, $47 and $47. I'm like, we're going to be rich. Like, this is crazy. We're driving down the freeway making money. And it was about like 4 days later, I got, I got a $300 purchase. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, this is insane. And then what happened was a couple things. I started to do the math and I was like, okay, I spent $2,000 on ads and I made $450 or whatever it was. Like, the math didn't math, you know? And I remember, um, thinking, I need help. Like, I definitely need help.. And, um, I literally remembered all these conversations I had with people at Funnel Hacking Live. They had hired coaches. I had never hired a coach. Like, I almost thought a coach at this time was a scam because like, if they're so good at it, like, why aren't they doing it? Yeah. Like, I didn't, I didn't hate on coaches, but I didn't love on them. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I'm, I'm kind of like, I can figure this out, you know, like you don't know who I am, but I, I just couldn't. And so I actually hired a coach.. And the thing that they told me, they go, dude, with what you have right now, you could keep doing it and you'll figure it out. Like you're already, you're already doing this and you just, math doesn't work right now, but you will. But why not just go high ticket? And I was like, I don't know what that means. And then I just sell, you sell it for $6,000. And I'm like, just sell it for $6,000. Okay. And so I did. I, I literally followed like their whole blueprint step by step. You're gonna do this, you're gonna do this. You're going to DM these people, you're going to do this. And the goal was to get 1 to 10 people to be my beta clients and really have a proof of concept before I spent years building it all out. And the craziest thing, I got, I got 4 people to commit to it. I told them, hey, it's a $5,800 offer. I'm giving it to you guys for half price. But I got 4 strangers to give me $2,900 and we launched Landscape Lighting Secrets.

That's so cool. You just were cold DMing people to get those leads or how—

what was the process? Yeah, I basically, so I joined all the Facebook groups that had to do with landscape lighting. There was like 2 or 3, and then even some landscaper ones, which landscape lighting, a lot of people are like, what the heck is that? It's a thing, guys. It's like the first time I heard about a funnel. I'm like, what the heck is that? It's a thing.

So, um, there's actually, I should explain it. Like, so I, so what's crazy is one of Ryan's students actually did mine. So 10 years ago, uh, when we bought our new house, um, we're kind of like this back street in the side of like, just kind of like off the beaten path. And our street's really dark. There's no streetlights. Everyone's on 5 acres. All the houses are spread out. And so when we'd come in at night, our house was just like dark. You're like, ugh. And then we saw there had been lights at one time somewhere, but they didn't— so the lights, like they light up the trees. It's like every tree like would pop up and glow, right? But we tried to get them to work. We couldn't. And so then I was like Googling like how do you get landscape light? I don't know what it was even called. Lights for your yard. And eventually this guy's ad popped up somewhere. I clicked on it. He had pictures of like houses that like all the lights were lit up at night. I was like, ooh, that's like, so we called him, he came out and he actually went through and he asked me, he's like, so do you have an opinion? Do you want to tell us where you want lights? Or he's like, I'm kind of an artist. I can figure it out for you. I was like, oh please, like, yes, do your art. So he went and like mapped out our whole yard and then drew all the lights and everything. And like, we're gonna light this tree and this tree and this tree and back here and like front yard, backyard, everything.. And, um, and after she showed it to us, we're like, that's insane. Yes, we're in. And then I can't remember, he quoted us, I think it was like, uh, in my head I think it was like $40,000 or $50,000. It was not cheap. It was like, oh, um, and then he came and did it. And then, you know, a week later they turned the lights on and like, it was insane. You walked to our yard, just like, this is amazing. So that's what landscape lighting— I wouldn't have known that's what it is, but it's, yeah, it goes in like, like they strategically like pick all the spots in your yard.

So it just looks insane. So it's super nerdy. I forget that people aren't into it, but yeah, like we're like analyzing the tree and the height of it and the width of it and like what color temperature is going to be right.

And it really like— there's some lights that go up from the ground, some that are in the tree that pop down for other aesthetics and different things.

And yeah, they're insane.

Look at you, you're a lighting designer. It's funny because like, so just guys, right prior to this, I was on Ryan's podcast talking and then Scott, who runs the lighting company in Boise, who I haven't talked to in 5 years, he texts me like, I saw you've been on Ryan's, uh, Ryan's, uh, podcast. He's like, I'm in his coaching program, did it all stuff. That's so awesome.

It's kind of crazy, but so cool.

So I interrupted you.

I can't remember where you're at, but I got excited. Where were we? Yeah. I was like, that's what landscape lighting is.

So I seriously can't remember. $6,000 offer. So you just crushed a bunch of $6,000 offers.

You were DMing people from the Facebook. All I said was, I said, hey, um, I help people. And again, I got this from my coach. Like everything I teach now, I'm like, guys, I hired a coach. It, literally collapsed time. It would've taken me 10 years to figure this stuff out. I figured it out in like a month, you know? Mm-hmm. So I use the script, I join all these groups. I say, hey, I help landscape lighting business owners gain freedom from their business by helping them double their profits. Do you need help with this? And I just used his framework, you know, like what do you help 'em do? How do you help 'em do it? And it was like, I help 'em get more freedom. That's what they wanted at the time. They wanted freedom from their business cuz they were stuck in it. And I help 'em doing this by doubling their profits. Half the people were like, you're an idiot. Yeah, you can't double my profits. You know, like rejection, rejection, rejection. Some people were like, yeah, how would you help me make more money? Like, let's hop on a call. And I hop on a call and I start selling these people and they were like, this is amazing. And this is, this is the craziest thing, Russell. I get these, I get these people like engaged. The very first person to commit, he, he, and I'm a, I'm a big time, like close on the spot kind of guy. Like, what do you gotta think about? Let's, you know, like, do you, is your wife really gonna help you make a better decision here? All this stuff. But the guy's like not gonna decide. He goes, let me make a couple calls. And no one knew who I was. I didn't have a brand or anything like that. And, um, which I do gotta tell you about Facebook Lives. Um, he, he, he called, he ends up calling his best friend who happened to live a town over from where my lighting business was in Texas. And he goes, Cameron, do you know this Ryan Lee guy? He says he's like a big shot and he's gonna help me grow my business to millions of dollars. And he did all this stuff. And he goes, Yeah, I know Ryan Lee. I can't stand that guy. And I'm like, he's telling me the story. I'm like, oh gosh, here we go. He goes, yeah, I can't stand that guy. He's like, I'm not kidding. Every single time that I went up against him or his company, we never got the deal. He beat us out every single time. He goes, I'd sign up for his program in a heartbeat. And so he called me back and he goes, send me the link. Let's, let's do this. My very first client. Like, it doesn't happen. So, um, you know, God is in everything. Like, he, he totally directed this thing. And then all of a sudden I have that story to now share with others as they're coming and joining the program. So we got our first 4 beta clients, um, told them what the, what the plan was. And I told them, I was like, guys, you might lose all your money. You know what I mean? Like, to be clear, I've never done a coaching business. I taught my wife how to snowboard and that didn't go well. We almost got divorced on the mountain. So just because I'm good at lighting doesn't mean I'm good at teaching it.

We're about to find out. I'm gonna do my best. That's too cool. So that was the first 4.

That's crazy.

So then what did it look like after that? You do the beta group, those guys have success with it and everything?

Oh yeah, they got success. And it was me teaching those fundamental things. I realized I need to get them a quick win. Like I need that $2,900 back in their pocket ASAP. And so I narrowed it down to like, okay, I got to help them raise their price, which they can do that without spending any more money. They don't have to like buy a new truck. They don't have to do advertising. I go, I literally just coached them up like confidently, like on your next deal, just add like $2,000 and worst case you don't get it and you can lower it down. And they're like, okay. They come back, they're like, did I just make an extra $2,000? They're like, yes, it worked. Sweet. Yeah. Like next one, do $3,000. So The ROI was like instant, right? And so I knew I was onto something. The thing I wanted to tell you too, at that Funnel Hacking Live, you were on this kick of telling everyone, do Facebook Live, do Facebook Live, do Facebook Live. Dude, I had never done— I mean, I had posted like 2 times ever on Facebook before. Okay. But I, in that freaking hotel, the Gaylord Hotel with all the waterfalls in the background, I go and hide in my room. I wasn't, I didn't, I see, you know, at your event and there's people, what's up man, I'm so-and-so. And like they got their camera crews and everything else. Oh no, I'm not walking around. I locked the freaking door so no one could come in the room. I turn on my camera. I had, someone gave me this idea cuz I'm terrified. Um, they go create a, a fake Facebook group and go live in that so you can get used to seeing yourself cuz it's awkward. So I do that. I hit live. Hey guys. Um, this is Ryan Lehm. I'm gonna share my origin story cuz, uh, 'cause that's what you called it. You know, I'm like trying to like follow your teachings to a T and I'm like, I'm sure I'm not supposed to say origin story, but I'm like, origin story and hero's journey and all this stuff. It was so awkward. All of a sudden I see, and at the time you see this like little human icon like pops up, like says 1. I'm like, is that, that must be me. Like 1, 'cause I'm in a private group. It's just me. All of a sudden it goes to 2, then it goes to 3. I'm like, oh shit, I'm on a, I'm live. What? Like I'm not in a private group. I didn't know how to go live in a private group. I didn't select it.

So I'm live, I'm on my real feed.

Your mom's like, hey Ryan, what's happening? Yes. Heart, you know, heart emoji. You are the best. And I'm like, oh, stop commenting on my stuff. Yeah, it was super awkward. I was like, why am I doing this? I kept talking and someone was on there. They're like, oh, I'm at Funnel Hacking Live or something. I don't know, like how all this stuff worked, but they're like, you got this. Like, I think we had just friend— I just think we had just connected that day. They're like, send me your Facebook or whatever, you know? And I'm like, thanks for the kind words. Um, end it. And I just decided, no, I'm sticking with this. I did, uh, 30, it was 30 days. I was like, I'm gonna do Facebook Live every day for 30 days. I would always hide. I never did it in public, even with my family around. I'm like, hey guys, go somewhere else. I, I need to like talk to my phone. Um, and after 30 days I felt like, hey, I'm gonna go. So I did 60 days and then I did 90 days. I kept going. And that was the backbone. So that started like in, The event was like end of February. So that was the backbone for these people when I would reach out to them. I didn't know this because the only time, the only person watching it literally was my mom. It's funny you mentioned that, but like she was the only one. Well, I found out that like I would get on the phone with some of these people and they go, hey, that's really cool. We saw you took your family to Moab. And I'm like, you saw it? When, when did you see my, my family? What? Like, oh yeah, that video. And I'm like, huh? And they're like, oh, that was really cool what you said about the pricing thing. I'm like, What are you talking about? And they're like, I didn't know that people watched Facebook Lives later. You know what I mean? There was zero people except for my mom commenting. And all of a sudden I go back and look, I'm like, whoa, this got like 50 views. Oh, this got 100. Oh, this got 200. Like, I didn't realize, but I was building an audience and I was just trying to be like obedient to the structure, like marry the process, divorce the result. Like, I'm okay with that. So I was just doing that. And so I didn't realize when I was DMing these people, they already did know my name. Like they had seen me contribute online. They'd see me contribute in the Facebook groups. I went and added value. I never made an offer. I had someone want to know what light to use. I'd tell them if they want to know how much to charge, I tell them. I mean, I was so active in those groups answering everyone's questions. So yeah, that, that was huge for me.

It was doing those Facebook Lives.

So cool. That's crazy.

So what does the business look like now? Like, do you have other products, courses, events? Like, I love a screen, like a picture.

So people understand kind of where it's evolved to now. Yeah, it's so cool. I mean, I hope I can admit this to you because you did tell me to model what works. Okay, so if we end the recording now, but like, I literally just try to model what you, what you've taught, you know. And we have awards now. So we have 100K Club, when someone, you know, makes their first $100 grand after joining, that we give them an award and a t-shirt. Uh, LMC, the Lighting Millionaire Club. We have A ton of people that have won that. We have our Penta Million, and then we've got one person that just earned their, uh, LMCX, which is $10 million after joining our program. So it's like, we're gonna have to— we're gonna have to create a $50 million— we're gonna have to create $100 million awards. Um, and now we do events. So we do like, um, we have our own in-person events, um, and things like that as well. Not only just for our community where we have members-only meetups, but we launched like Light It Up Expo where we're doing that as like a, not like a fulfillment event, but like a recruiting event. So people come to that and they're there to, you know, just like Funnel Hacking Live, like we give away so much value. Um, but then we did our first, my first ever, I actually messaged you after this. This was in March. I did my first ever Light It Up Expo. Okay. And up until then, the largest crowd I had ever like pitched to was about a crowd of 50. Mm-hmm. And you know what's funny? I started doing these events called Landscape Lighting Live. We had anywhere from 20 to 50 people there. Josh Latimer, who I hired, is a big fan of yours. It's in, been in your programs, all that. He goes, how many people do you, uh, how many, how many people do you sign up at these events? I'm like, zero. He's like, what? Why don't, how many do you, do you not pitch? And I'm like, no. I'm like, they bought a ticket to an event. I'm just gonna give them what they bought.

He's like, What?

Like, why would you not make them an offer? Yeah. And I'm like, it took me a while to realize that, like, I was doing them a disservice, you know? And so my very first one, I had like 25 people in the room and I made a pitch. I was so nervous. I got 3 people and I was like, oh my gosh, I got 3. And Josh is like, you need to get like 12, you know? Like, that's terrible. I'm like, okay, I'll get, I'll get 12. But I, you know, confidence, all these things. I'm watching your videos. I'm doing the perfect webinar. I'm trying to figure out all this stuff. So Light It Up Expo, fast forward, Light It Up Expo, we had like 120 people in the room. The very first one, I'm making this pitch. I literally made in a, in a 1-hour presentation. This, this was insane. I still can't believe this happened. I can't remember the exact number, but it was at least $225,000. It was probably $250,000 off a 1-hour presentation. So cool. I— it doesn't even make sense. I'm like, how did that just happen? Like, I messaged you right after. I'm like, you won't believe this, but I just made this pitch and I just told— just modeled everything that you do. Oh, cool. And I'm sure you would have gotten a lot more if you probably would have sold $2 million on it.

But, um, for me it was a win. Oh, quarter million bucks from, from present day.

It's so cool, man. I know, so crazy. So yeah, the momentum just keeps building. Um, you know, like, yeah, I mean, we, we do, do different offers now. We created a low-ticket one, uh, it's $97 a month. It's a lighting academy. So the people that aren't quite ready to invest, or maybe they're a little skeptical of a coaching program, we just give them an awesome, like, course that comes with, like, accountability and also, like, design training and install training. So, um, that's been good for us. You know, we get people into that funnel, and then we obviously make them an offer to be like, hey, now that you know how to design and install, you need to make a lot of money, so you need to join the fast pass to success, which is Landscape Lighting Secrets.

Mm-hmm. So cool, dude. I love it. Like I told you, I think on your, on your podcast, but for everyone else, it's like, um, there's some people who like, who are entrepreneurs come to my world and then do this stuff. And then there's my normal world of my friends, family, people went to school with who see my Facebook posts and they always either they ignore it all or once in a while they're like, what are you doing? I'll tell them. And then they never, you know, crickets. So it's fun for me to see. That's crazy. You came in and like you saw it, figured it out, modeled it. Had success. And like, so it means a lot to me because like, it's just fun to watch it. And especially to see in an industry like landscape lighting, which I wouldn't have— if you would ask me at the time, I think this is a big market. I'm like, I don't have any idea. Like, I don't know how many people are doing it. It's so cool to see you like take it and in this little ecosystem, like to blow it up and have so much success with it.

It's really cool. No, thanks for saying that. And it's kind of funny because I, on my podcast, I was asking you questions like, if you were a landscape lighting company, what would you do? And I told Lindsay before, I'm like, it's gonna be interesting to see how he answers this cuz he's not a landscape lighting expert, obviously. Um, but you actually in real time gave some like really, really great advice.

And I would say, well, people wanna hear that podcast interview. How do they subscribe to your podcast to hear it?

Do they have to? Yeah, go to, go to lightingforprofits.com and you can get on any platform there. I know some people are on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube, but lightingforprofits.com will get you there. Um, And I would say, man, the old saying is true. The riches are in the niches. Um, and at first I was doing this for money. I was like, I got to provide for my family. I mean, I sold my lighting business, but I didn't— it was not a 9-figure exit, you know what I mean? So it's like, yeah, I still got to produce for my family. But, um, I didn't know it was going to work. I just knew that, like, you, you, you, you would say, like, what's your calling? What do you call to do? And I'm like, I'm not called to do anything. And I realized, okay, maybe there is. And now I know my calling. Like, I know this is it. There's so many— I meet people every single day pretty much now, and they, they are in the position I used to be in. And that's what your calling is. It's not about being better than someone. It's not about being smarter or wealthier or anything. It's just like, are you, are you one page ahead? Like, are you a little bit further along than someone else? And it is, it is not about the money. It is so rewarding now that I get to help these people and they're telling me, dude, I found your podcast. Like, it changed my life. I'm like, tell me more. Like, that feels good. Like, that's crazy that, that I get to do this and it's landscape lighting. Like, it's the, it seems like the dumbest thing. Like, it's lighting has truly changed my life. And, uh, it's just, it's magical that I get to do this. So it's surreal that I literally, like reconnected with you this way, because I think that gave me maybe some more confidence.

Because again, I was kind of skeptical of coaches, but I'm like, I don't remember Russell.

He wasn't that talented at all. He's actually not that— I mean, he's kind of good looking, you know. You're aging well, let's just say that. Thank you. I went to the 20-year reunion, I was like, did they bring their parents? Like, some people did not age well. I was like, did we graduate the same year? Some people did not age well.

So congrats, Russell.

Thank you. But about that, yeah, I But it, it truly is just like, I don't know, I'm really grateful. Um, I think just knowing that like, dude, I know you came from like East Sandy Elementary, you came from Sandy. Like, if— and I don't want— I don't— I really don't want you to take this the wrong way, but like, if you can do it, anyone can do it, you know? And I definitely am not putting myself on the same level of pedestal or anything like that, but I think we all have these callings within us, and you helped me find that. You really did. To be like, man, I can't, and I just truly love it. I get to nerd out on landscape lighting and I get to help people at the same time.

Like, this is pretty epic. Yeah.

I love this.

I love your whole story. And hopefully for everyone listening, like, I'm big in like seeing the patterns and how do you replicate it, but like your story's interesting. Cause it's like you did a thing and you had success in it.

Right.

And then, but because it was like, you're, it was simple for you cause you'd figured it out. Then when you're trying to figure out your calling, it didn't make sense. Like, oh, this is common sense. I was saying, like, doesn't everyone understand what I'm doing? But like, that actually is your superpower. And you take that and then it's like the more you serve, the more you make. And it just, it's such a cool path. And I hope anyone who's listening, who's like somewhere in that journey right now, maybe you're stuck in the job or the thing that you love, but you're ready for the next thing. Like you're in that training ground right now where you're learning the skill set you need to eventually be the expert, right? Or maybe you've exited that or you're on the next part of your life and you're trying to figure out your, where your calling is, like it's probably that thing that seems so simple to you that just seems common sense, yet it's the thing that's so unique for other people and you could change their lives if you're willing to do it. And then when you figure that out, then it's like, okay, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Like you said, like model the things that work. Like do Facebook Lives, do a high ticket, do an event, do like, like the path's been figured out. It's just like plugging your version of that thing into, into what works and then it just works.

So it's really cool. So powerful. I literally can't understand like why someone wouldn't be able to do it. I'm, I'm no, I'm different. I'm just that shy guy in the back row of Funnel Hacking Live that's hiding in the room doing Facebook Lives to now I do a weekly podcast and I get to do all this stuff just because I took action. And it's like, there is even people ask me, I named my company after your, I mean, Landscape Lighting Secrets. Like, do you, are you not seeing this?

Right?

Like, yeah, I hope that's okay. I love it. You, but you tell people, you're like, model what works, model what works, do all these things. And so I'm like, That's all I keep doing. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not better. I'm not smarter than anyone else. Like, if I can do it, you can do it. I can assure you, you're probably overthinking it. And I think most people are trying to get everything perfect. And I'm just a fan of like imperfect progress.

Like, let's just go. Yeah. So cool. Well, man, first off, great to reconnect. Thanks for being on the podcast and sharing this with everybody. I hope they all do go, even if you're not gonna be a landscape lighting person, you should go listen to the podcast. 'Cause that'd be kind of fun for them to hear that side. But also like you're teaching marketing principles and so like that apply to other businesses. Like, you know, I still, I study, I remember back in the day I bought Joe Polish's carpet cleaning marketing course and people were like, why would you buy, you don't own a carpet cleaning company? I'm like, dude, Joe Polish is really, really smart. And I studied it, I learned it. I got so many things from that that I could apply. So yeah, people can go connect with you and just like start learning the things that you do and how they can apply to their business too. So anyway, so fun to connect, man. Thanks for being on the podcast. Thanks for doing all this stuff. And hopefully we have a chance to, go hang out again sometime in real life.

It'd be fun. Sounds good. Thanks, Russell.

Really appreciate you, man.

Yeah. All right. Thanks, man.