Two big “ah-ha’s” in this episode that will help you to continue to move forward. On this episode Russell talks about rewriting the Dotcom Secrets book before it is released in a box set with the other two books, and struggling to find the motivation to do it. He shares an exchange with Stephen Larsen over Voxer that helped him get back to writing. Here are some fun things in this episode.

-- Find out why Russell’s editing of Dotcom Secrets turned into a full rewrite.

-- See why Stephen thinks Gary V. will win if Russell doesn’t continue to write.

-- And see that everyone in the business struggles at times, even after 15 years.

So listen here and see that if you’re struggling to stay motivated with whatever you’re working on, you are not alone.

So I pitched Reed on that and he said yes. I was so excited, I went back and bought the rights back from the first two books from the old publisher, and then I was like, “Here are the books.” And then I was like, “Wait a minute, do I have some time really quick if I want to add something, if I wanted to update some of the chapters really quick?” And they’re like, “Sure, go for it Russell. That’d be awesome.” So I get the Traffic Secrets book done, it’s 97,000 words. Just to put that into perspective, the original Dotcom Secrets book was 58,000. So it’s almost twice as big as the first book.

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What’s up everybody? This is Russell Brunson, welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. I am so excited to have you here today. I want to let you guys in behind the scenes of some voxer chats so you see what’s actually happening in the real world. Because sometimes when you see the outside façade, and me smiling like, “Hey, I wrote this book.” But I want you guys to feel the pain with me. So I’m going to share with you guys some of those stories and more here as soon as we get back from the intro song.

Alright, so here’s the back story. I decided to write my third book, Traffic Secrets, I got excited and I started writing it, and then it turned out to be pretty good, I think. We’ll find out. Hopefully you guys like it soon. And then I got a publisher for it, and the publisher I decided to go with is Hay House because number one they’re amazing, number two Reed who is the owner of Hay House is the man, and number three, they understand our world and let us do our kind of marketing with books. So I was like, yes, of course I’m going with them. So then I was like, “Well wait a minute. If you guys are going to publish this new book, I would love if you guys published the other two and we could do them all hard bound and make a box set, it will be amazing.”

So I pitched Reed on that and he said yes. I was so excited, I went back and bought the rights back from the first two books from the old publisher, and then I was like, “Here are the books.” And then I was like, “Wait a minute, do I have some time really quick if I want to add something, if I wanted to update some of the chapters really quick?” And they’re like, “Sure, go for it Russell. That’d be awesome.” So I get the Traffic Secrets book done, it’s 97,000 words. Just to put that into perspective, the original Dotcom Secrets book was 58,000. So it’s almost twice as big as the first book.

And I sent it to them and I was like, “Okay, I’m going to dive into these other books and I’m going to start editing. And I found out something strange that I did not think was going to happen. I started editing the Dotcom Secrets book and I found out that the Russell Brunson from 5 years ago sucked at writing. He didn’t eve…. Why did you guys like that book? It doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m reading it and I’m like, this is…So I’ve been rewriting it, it was supposed to be a two week project, and right now I’m literally up insanely early, going to bed insanely late, cancelling everything other than my kids wrestling, to get this book done. I’ve been spending a week on it, I just got done with chapter two. And I’ve added 11,000 words in the first two chapters, which is kind of ridiculous.  But it’s a lot better. It’s way better, I think, I hope.

And then everything is kind of in this weird order that doesn’t make any sense to me now, so I’m rearranging the whole book and rewriting things, and it’s becoming it’s own book project in and of itself. It will probably being as big, if not bigger than the Traffic Secrets book, at the rate I’m going right now, which is crazy.

So I’m telling you this for a couple of reasons. Number one, because I want you guys to understand the Russell from 5 years ago sucked at writing books, but guess what, I still wrote the book. Some of you are like, “I suck at writing. I’m going to wait until some future date when I’m really good.” Then the book will never happen. Your legacy will never begin. The pathway that you have to pave to greatness, to become who you need to become will never begin because you have to write the crappy book first.

So I did, I wrote this book that at the time I thought it was amazing. Everyone thought it was amazing. But it sucks, looking at it now, I’m like, “This book’s horrible.” And I’m grateful for this window that I have a chance to rewrite it so that when you guys get the new version you’re like, “Oh my gosh Russell, this makes so much more sense. This is so clear, the stories are captivating.” That’s my goal with it. But that was the first aha I want you guys to get, is that.

Number two, I know sometimes it seems like everything is sunshine and roses. When I click record on Instagram I’m always like, “Ahhh!” happy. When I record a podcast I’m usually like, “Yay!” all chipper. But sometimes its really, really hard. So just a few minutes ago I was, my motivation was weaning. I didn’t go to bed last night until almost 3. Woke up early this morning, came in and did not want to do what I needed to do. So I voxed Stephen Larsen a message, and I wasn’t going to send it to you guys because it’s kind of weird, but I want you guys to hear the raw what I’m actually going through, so that hopefully some of you guys are like, “Oh my gosh, this work is hard sometimes. Oh my gosh, Russell isn’t superman, he’s tired and unmotivated and doesn’t want to do this stuff either.” So I’m going to let you guys listen to that.

So I’m going to play the vox that I sent to Stephen Larsen, begging him for some motivation so I can keep writing this book, then I’m going to let you listen to the two voxes he sent back that gave me the motivation, got me excited, and then made me feel like I needed to do this podcast for you guys really quick to share, because I thought it was really fun. With that said, you’re going to hear a private voxer that I was not planning on showing, from me to Stephen, and then messages from Stephen back to me.

What’s up dude, are you on an airplane right now? Flying to Prove It? Right now I’m supposed to be writing, I’m trying to not write so I’m voxing you. Hey, what’s up man? It’s Wednesday. Do you think you could yell at me and send me some like, “the Dotcom Secrets book changed my life Russell. If you don’t do this you’re screwing people out of their happiness and future,” that would help me a lot.  Because right now I just want to screw everyone out of their happiness and future because it sucks.

It is literally a whole new book. I’m reading this over and I’m like, “how did anybody like this book? It’s horrible.” It’s like I sucked at writing, there’s no good stories, I touch upon things briefly and then I walk away. But then I’m like, What if that was the brilliance of it. Maybe now I’m going so deep that people are like, “Okay Russell, I get the gist, quit telling me stories.”Oh Stephen, {inaudible} but now we’re, I just finished chapter two and we’re 11,000 new words written in this book. So at this pace this book will be well over 100,000 words before I get to the section two. So there you go. Alright, oh good, he’s listening. Give me something, any something. I need some motivation to go write Stephen, please help me. For the love, make me go write something. Alright, I’m going back in. Actually I’m going to wait until he responds, so hopefully he responds sooner or later because I’m not writing a word until you say something amazing.

Stephen: WRITE THE BOOK! IT CHANGED MY LIFE!  The book man, if you don’t write that book the internet dies. If you don’t write that book, Gary V wins Russell, Gary wins without that book, don’t let him win.

Ps, you’ve added 11,000 words and you’re on chapter two? Oh my gosh. I don’t even know, it’s funny, it’s been so long since I’ve read that book I have a hard time remembering what it is like. But it changed my life. That book truly did change my life. And yes, I just do want to remind you in a very calm tone, Gary V wins if you don’t write the book.

Russell: Alright welcome back. Right now some of you guys are like, “Oh my gosh, Russell’s losing his mind. He is a train wreck.” And some of you guys are like, “Oh my gosh, Russell’s just like me.” So hopefully this helps any of you guys that are in that situation where you’re like, it’s hard sometimes. It’s hard to create, it’s hard to think, it’s hard to sit down with a blank pad of paper and write, it’s hard to sit down and create a course. It’s hard to go create an event, or an outline, or a product, or risk your money ordering crap from china that you have no idea if people are going to buy it.

I get it, it’s hard and it’s scary, but that’s the game we’re in and it’s fun. And I think the biggest thing is just trying to keep your energy levels high, trying to get motivation from anywhere you can, even if it’s getting people to yell at you through voxer, whatever it takes. But hopefully this helps you guys to understand that the creation process is lonely, it’s tiring, it’s all those things. And the end goal is in a couple of months from now, I’m going to have this box set of books I’m proud of, and that’s why. It’s the vision of that that drives me forward. And hopefully it’s the same thing for you, the vision of the creation, the things you’re making are what make it worthwhile.

So the two lessons from this podcast episode, number one is the Russell 5 years ago sucked at writing, but he still wrote. Same is true for you. Right now you’re probably going to suck at whatever you’re creating, but if you don’t start it will never start you on this path, so that’s number one. Number two, understanding that even people who have been doing this for 15 years, people who think may be flawless or whatever, still struggle but we still do it. So I hope that helps somebody out there.

With that said, I appreciate you all for listening. Thanks for being a subscriber. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a screenshot on your phone, I’m guessing you’re listening on your phone, go to Instagram or Facebook or your social network of choice, and tag me so I can see the post. And then use #marketingsecrets. I check them out all the time. In fact, a ton of you guys probably see, I comment on your screen shots, I like them , I share them, it makes me happy. So thanks again for listening you guys, appreciate you all and I’ll talk to you soon. Bye everybody.