RANT: Take What You Earned, Nothing More

What's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson and welcome to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Tonight we're gonna be hanging out and talking a little bit about the fact that nobody owes you anything and you should just be grateful for the opportunity.

So the big question is, how are entrepreneurs like us who didn't cheat and.

Take on venture capital, were spending money.

From our own pockets. How do we market in a way that lets us get our products and our services and the things that we believe in out to the world and yet still remain profitable? That is the question in podcast will.

Give you the answer. My name is Russell Brunson and welcome to Marketing Secrets. Alright, so I'm gonna share with you guys some stuff tonight that I don't normally share and probably have some stuff I wanted to share normally or not. And anyway, I'm gonna go into that here in a minute, but I want to share one idea that's completely not related marketing. Maybe it is, who knows? So right now I'm eating this. In fact, I don't know if you can see this if you guys are sitting here. I'm in my kitchen, this is my dinner. I share this because right now I'm on this. How to get ripped before Funnel Hacking Live Diet with Bart Miller. And it's been funny, he's got me working out, doing all sorts of stuff, but then also had me eating very specific way. And I knew that there was no way I was gonna be able to stick with it. In fact, the first day Dave and I, Dave's in it with me, we both went over to the grocery store and bought stuff and it was like 50 bucks for that one day. Just eat stuff. And it was like, we just bought like packs of chicken breasts and broccoli and that's, you know, it was horrible. And the second day, like I brought turkey from Thanksgiving from, you know, a little bit ago. And then Dave ran out of time to buy food, so he literally had his son go and buy him packs of deli meat. And so he's sitting there all day like eating packs of deli meat. And by day two, we're like, we will never actually do this because this is too hard to actually live this way. Which I'm sure is why a lot of people don't lose weight and probably other things in your life you don't do because it's too hard to consistently do it. So went online, we found someone here in Boise who cooks meals. And so we gave her all the macros, micros, all kind of stuff. What needs to be. And then every day she literally makes us three meals, drops them off in the morning and they're all perfectly cooked, fine tuned, healthy with exactly like the carbs, macros, micros, fats, proteins, everything that is perfect for what it's supposed to actually be. So that's what I mean. Now this is my third meal today and it's nice not to think just to grab and eat. So I recommend for any of you guys and it's not that expensive like we're paying I think like 300 bucks a week for this. Which if I was to go out one day a week, that's way more. 300, you know, for one meal a week, that's way more than 300 bucks. This is three meals a day plus keeps me. All I'm allowed to put in my mouth is what she puts into the boxes. That's it. So just a thought. Find someone cooking meals for you and do other things that are keeping you from getting the goals you want. So. Alright, so I digress. What I want to share with you guys today or tonight is pretty important, I think. So I was gonna share one thing but there's just stories I can't tell. So there's been, man, like honestly three or four situations in the last like two weeks that have been insane. It's been probably some of the hardest two weeks of my life when it relates to like the negative sides of business. And so for me it's been funny because I've been trying to like to block it and defend it because I just need to keep moving forward and the negativity of stuff can keep me or you or anybody from moving forward. Right. So I don't wanna share those specific stories but the way that people dealt with them was really I don't think right. So I'm gonna leave it at that. I'm not gonna go deeper into it. But I do wanna share is I wanna share something that actually I wanna, I want to share this. Not to brag, that's not the point. But to like show that I practice what I preach. I don't just talk about stuff, but I actually believe it because I think it's important. And so that's the only reason I'm sharing this story. And hopefully it'll help some of you guys to think about how you should deal with stuff in the future. So. And maybe, yeah, hopefully it'll help at least somebody out there. So some of you guys know that a couple years ago there's a company that got launched called Pruvit and I was part of the original team to help launch that. And I was the dude who wrote the script for the animated video. I had my animators animate the whole thing and that became a campfire video for anyone in that company. And in exchange for me doing that initial stuff, I negotiated some equity in the company. The equity right now, looking at where the company's blown up for in the last three years is worth insane amounts of money. Well over eight figures and probably closer. Well, it's, it's insanely lot. And I negotiated that ahead of time. And then I was gonna do a bunch of other things for the company and just for some reason some things didn't work because it was just, it was hard within the company. Network marketing companies and software makes it hard to do some of the funnels and things I was planning on helping with. So that was kind of hard. And then click funnels was taking off at the same time. So I was focusing there. And just when all said and done, like at the end of the day, I didn't do what I thought I was gonna do. But what I did have is this really cool fancy thing called the contract that I had signed. It said I own X percent of the company. And the situation with the multiple people this week, it was not the same situation. Something kind of like that. And it was like where people didn't pull their load and then they're like demanding this justice, which was injustice because they didn't do anything. And it's like, makes me so angry and frustrated. So I was thinking about that myself and I was like, I'm in the same situation here, like based on what I negotiated three years ago, I own X percent of this company. And while that's awesome and it's worth insane amounts of money, if I'm completely honest with myself, it is not fair. Not to me, it's not fair to them. And if I was in their situation, I know that in my mind I would be annoyed by me all the time. Everything thought me like, man, Russell got this thing and he did this little thing up front and then we haven't heard from him in the last three years. He'd do his own thing, he's ran his own direction. And instead of just like being like, haha, I got the contract, you owe me, I went actually actively reached out to them and said, hey, I don't feel like I deserve this. And Brian, who's the owner of the company, course he's like, no, no, you totally deserve me. No, I don't And I'm okay with that. I thought I was gonna be doing this, this, and this for this movement, and I didn't. I wasn't able to. Some things were. Cause technical. Technical things that didn't connect on the funnel side. And some of it was because I just didn't have time and I didn't do what I was supposed to do. And I was like, it's not fair to you. And I don't want someday when you sell this thing to be mad at me or angry at me when you have to give me this huge check because I didn't deserve it and I didn't earn it, and I don't want it. And he's like, well, this is kind of weird. He's like, well, what do you want? I was like, for what I did, I think this is what would make sense. And it's literally like me giving back eight figures worth of cash and just being like, here you go, and taking something way less, because that's what I actually earned and that's what I deserve. And I think he was kind of confused. And then he said, okay, and now we're making the transition, the shift away, and I'm signing away my equity in exchange for something way less, because that's what I actually earned and what I actually deserve. And so that's what I want you guys to start thinking about and doing, like, don't, like, in a situation with a business partner or a friend or an employer or whatever it is, like, get what you actually deserve, but don't get more. Like, don't. I don't know, this weird thing in society where people think they. They deserve everything. And it's ridiculous. It's insane. Like, I. I wouldn't believe some of these things if they didn't happen to me over the last two weeks. But it's insane what people feel like they deserve, even though they don't deserve it, but because of something they. They feel like they did. And it's just. It's so infuriating to me. I remember I had a chance to hear this guy speak a little while ago named Nito Queben. If you guys never heard of him, he is in, like, one of the best speakers I ever heard. I heard him probably seven, eight, probably long, probably ten years ago now at a Dan Kennedy event. And he was. I think he's like the CEO or something of Wonder Bread, a bunch of other things. And he's an entrepreneur. And he basically came over. He came to the country with, like, $20 in his pocket. And built this huge empire and just awesome dude. And I guess in the speech, I'm totally in slaughter, because this is a decade ago. I heard it. And I don't remember all the details, but I do remember the feeling I got and the message. But he talked about how he basically got a job as the. I don't know what they call him in college. Like, he was in charge. The dean of. Or call. Anyway, he was in charge of this college, right? And it was his college. He was struggling. He was coming in to turn it around. And he came in the first day or first week. He worked really hard for the first week. And then he came in, they handed him a paycheck. And he said, what's this for? And I said, this is your paycheck. He's like, well, I haven't done anything yet. And they. Well, you get paid every two weeks. That's how it works. So they gave him the check, and he sat on his desk. I did not earn that. And then he kept working, working. Next two weeks later came in, they gave the next paycheck. He's like, what is this for? And like, that's your paycheck. He's like, I didn't earn that. He put it down. And he kept trying to. His job, his role was to transform the university. And he kept doing that, kept trying. And it took him a while because it's a big thing to do. And eventually, I can't remember a year, two years, three years later, whatever it was, he transformed this university and had this big impact. And at the time, I think somebody said, come in his office, and he had this stack 5 or 6 inches tall of these envelopes. And someone said, wait, what's that big stack? He said, those are the paychecks that he'd give me, but I haven't earned them yet, so I'm not gonna. They're. They're not mine. And I remember hearing that and just being like, that's the right attitude. Like, I don't know. As opposed to the other situations where it's like you try to, like, slip your way in, and then if you don't get what you want, you try to sue somebody, or you try to, like, get a contract signed and try to sneak. And then you stop doing what you committed to doing or whatever that thing is. It's just like. It's insane to me. And like I said, it's happened four times. Four times in the last. By six weeks. Yeah, dang. The people have done that where they feel like they deserve Something. And so they're threatening to sue or they feel like they deserve something. And because they had a contract, they didn't actually do what they committed to doing. Like, all these things. And it's just so frustrating me. It's like, that's not how I want to be remembered. I want to remember as a person who actually, I got what I earned, and I showed up and I did what I said I was gonna do. And if I didn't say I was gonna do, then I didn't take what I contractually signed to because the contract said. Because I know inside my heart that I broke the contract. Contracts. I didn't do what I said I was gonna do, okay? And so I don't want someone who wants to come in and try to get what's not mine through threats and through all these, like. It's just ridiculous, okay? I want to be the kind of person who someday I can tell my kids, I can tell my grandkids. Hopefully someday, you know, a thousand years from now, someone's gonna watch this podcast, someone in my posterity, and be like, wow, great, great, great, great, great, great Grandpa Brunson. He was a man of integrity. He actually did what he said he was gonna do. And when he didn't earn something, he didn't contractually trick somebody, like, oh, well, we got a contract, so it kind of sucks. Like, yeah, no, I freaking gave it back to him because I didn't earn it, and I took what I did earn. And I hope that. I hope that rings true to some of you guys. If it does, it'll be worth the rant for tonight, so I hope it does. And if you haven't heard Neo Quebec speak, I'm gonna try. I bought a bunch of his stuff back in the day. I wonder if I can find that presentation where he talked about that because it was so impactful. Me just to hear that and realize that, like, that's how we should be working. Just because the rest of the world shows up to work and falls asleep and gets a check every two weeks like us, the people who are producers, who are moving forward. That's not how we should look at things. We shouldn't be okay with that when our team's doing that. We should be okay with that when people around us are doing that. We need to earn what we earn and go out there and do the thing, and that's the goal, right? And if you do work your butt off and you do do the thing, you do earn the money, then be proud of it. Don't hide it. Be embarrassed like you actually worked your butt off. You deserve it. But don't do it the other way around where you trick, cheat, scam, lie, whatever it takes to get what you think is yours. Because it's not yours. You don't actually deserve it. Okay? You should just be grateful for the opportunity. And so that's where I'm leaving this one off. I'm grateful for the opportunity Pruvit gave me. I'm excited. It's funny, like I should be so sick to my stomach about this, but I have no issues. Like I'm so excited to be giving back this equity and exchange. Give me something that's really cool, that's a good fit. Anyway, it's good and I feel good about it and I'm going to sleep really, really good tonight because of that. And that's what really matters. So hopefully that helps somebody. Hopefully my great, great, great, great, great grandkids are watching this and they straighten up when you hear it because it's important. That's all I got. So thanks you guys for listening. Appreciate you all and have an amazing day. Bye.

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