My thoughts after reading the first 2/3 of the book Atlas Shrugged.
On this episode Russell talks about reading Atlas Shrugged and how he interprets it in the current economy. Here are some of the interesting things you will hear in today’s episode:
-- Find out why it’s important for the producers to continue to produce.
-- And hear what it means to be a looter, and why they are dangerous to the producers.
So listen here to find out how Atlas Shrugged has inspired Russell to continue to be a producer.
I have a full time legal team now just taking legal calls from people trying to sue me because so and so, some moron on our platform….I got sued by Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift sued me, how cool is that? Not actually cool. But because someone decided to go and to loot from her, and to basically produce, and basically go and take her stuff and post it on a Clickfunnels page, and try to start selling it. They weren’t suing me, I was able to go and turn it, you know, we had to turn it off, but we get those things every single day from stuff.
-- ClickFunnels: Everything you need to start market, sell, and deliver your products and services online (without having to hire or rely on a tech team!)
-- DotComSecrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Growing Your Company Online With Sales Funnels."
-- Expert Secrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Converting Your Online Visitors Into Lifelong Customers."
-- Traffic Secrets: Get a free copy of the "Underground Playbook For Filling Your Websites And Funnels With Your Dream Customers.
What’s up everybody? This is Russell Brunson, welcome back to
the Marketing Secrets podcast. I have missed you guys, I have been
MIA for the last two weeks on vacation, enjoying time with my
family. You guys had two rerun episodes. We had one which was why
entrepreneurs suck at vacations, which is something I think a lot
of us relate to. Although this time was different for me, I don’t
know about you but you know, because of Coronavirus, and because I
really, really needed a break, it was really nice for me. Anyway,
so I enjoyed it.
And then number two was Entrepreneurial Scars. And that’s one
that I’ve replayed a couple of times now because every time I play
it, a new segment of my listeners hear it and they’re like, “Oh my
gosh.” and it’s one of my favorite episodes. Hopefully it
helped.
And yeah. So with that said though, this episode I want to talk
about something I have been thinking a lot about ever since my
vacation, because one my vacation I decided to read a book. Read I
put in quotation marks, I decided to listen to a book because I’ve
tried to read this book more than probably 5 or 6 times and it’s so
big, so thick, I couldn’t do it. So I finally I just got the
audiobook and I got 2/3rds of it done, it’s a book called Atlas
Shrugged and it’s got me thinking and I want to share some of my
thoughts with you.
Alright so to preface, to pre-face this, whatever it’s called,
to start this off, I want all of you guys, I want to recommend that
each of you guys listening to this, go and read the book Atlas
Shrugged, get the audiobook. Now I want to warn you, it is fat.
It’s like, I don’t know, 1200 page book. I’ve tried to read it over
the last decade 5 or 6 times, I’ve never succeeded. The movies came
out, I watched the first movie but I never watched the second or
third yet. But anyway, finally I was like, “I have to, I hear so
much stuff, I need to read this book.”
So I finally started reading it, listened to the audiobook on my
trip and I got 2/3rds of it done and now I’m engrossed in it. And
it’s really, really good. It’s written back in I think the early
1920’s by a lady named Ayn Rand. I don’t know if I pronounced her
name right or not. But she’s someone who had this thought and this
premise, what would happen to society, to this world, if the
producers went on strike. In fact, the book initially, the working
title before she published it was called the strike.
And by producers she means anyone who’s producing stuff right.
The producers versus like the looters, they call them the looters,
so it’s people that are like, trying to steal from the producers,
or trying to tax the producers, or take away what they’re doing. So
producers in this sense aren’t necessarily the entrepreneurs, but
anyone who’s creating, who’s producing. You might be the
entrepreneurs starting a business, which I know a lot of you who
are listening are. You may be someone inside of a business who are
producing results, you’re creating, you’re doing things like
that.
So the message, what happens when the producers, the people who
are passionate, who care about their work, who care about creating
things, what happens when they go on strike? And it’s so
fascinating. And it’s not that they want to go on strike, they love
their work, they love their, all their mission. They’re doing this
thing out of the love of their heart because they’re doing it.
But then there’s the looters, and the looters in this book are
government and social things and all these things that are
happening where they’re like, “It’s not fair that somebody should
have more than one business, it’s not fair that blah, blah, blah.”
You know, all these things. So they’re setting up these laws and
these rules to keep taking things away from the producers.
And throughout the book there’s different laws that keep getting
passed by the government. The first one was called the
Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog rule, where it basically made it, I’m trying to
remember which that one was. Anyway, that was the very, very first
one, and because of that, of those regulations, a whole bunch of
companies and producers, it made it so they no longer had, got
rewarded for producing. So they started, these producers started
disappearing. And I don’t know where they go yet, because I haven’t
finished the book, but they disappear.
And a little while later, the government comes and they change
another rule where nobody should have more than one company. And
then because of that, it makes the next segment of producers no
longer have reward for producing, so they start disappearing. And
everyone’s like, ‘where do these people go? I don’t know where
they’re going.” And this thing keeps happening throughout the book
where the government keeps passing regulations and things like
that, trying to make things more fair, and try to, all these
things, and as it’s happening every single time, it takes away the
ability for reward from a producer, and eventually the producers go
on strike. They disappear.
Now, I haven’t finished the book, so I can’t tell you where they
went, or the moral of the story, or any of the things, but it was
interesting to me. Because if you’re listening to this podcast, my
guess is you are a producer in some fashion. Either you are an
entrepreneur who started a business, you’re inside of a business,
you’re building funnels, you’re driving, you’re creating, you’re a
producer. So this book should speak to you, and this message should
speak to you right. Because it’s interesting, when you look at this
book it’s like what happens to society when the producers go on
strike.
So you start looking at the aftermath and the destruction and
all the bad, that’s what’s coming up in the book right now, it’s
like after all the producers are gone, they’re all pulled out of
this thing, you see what happens to society and how it crumbles and
falls apart. Because the looters aren’t people, they’re not
producing. They’re not creating, they’re not developing, they’re
not making things. They’re just leaching on and taxing, and trying
to make a law so they can take your money from you. And it’s
really, really fascinating.
And I learned a couple of things that I want to share with you
so far. The book, like I said, I’m through like 800 pages, so
there’s a lot of stuff I could share but in the context of this
podcast, number one is I want all of you guys who are listening to
this, who are producers to understand your value and your
importance in this economy and this society. If it wasn’t for you
and your contribution, and you trying to create and serve and build
and give and do these things, the very fabric of our society would
collapse.
If you read this book you’ll see. Obviously it’s a fictional
story, but it’s showing what would happen if they producers
disappeared. So I want you to understand the role and how
important, how vital it is to this economy, to this world, because
I think a lot of times we forget that, right. So that’s number one.
Number two, I want you to be very, very aware of the looters, of
people and agencies, and governments that are trying to create
taxes and trying to create things and legislation and laws to take
away your freedom, to take away your ability…not so much your
ability, but take away your reward for producing.
As you know, when anybody starts any kind of business there’s
inherent risk. The second you apply for your business license,
there’s risk. You’re putting out you money, your time, your effort,
and the second you have a business, people can sue you, everything
opens up just by the mere act of you saying, “I’m going to start a
business, I’m going to go produce.” It opens up risk for you the
second you do. And the bigger you get, the more risk starts getting
piled upon you.
I can tell you now, as someone who has built and crashed
companies twice. And then built a company to a pretty substantial
level, the bigger you get the higher the risk gets. And the risk
gets stressful and gets more and more heavy and heavy and heavy. I
look at my life and the thing that’s the hardest for me now is some
of the risk that we take on is insane. Having 100,000 customers all
publishing whatever they want on our platform. Insane amounts of
risk.
I have a full time legal team now just taking legal calls from
people trying to sue me because so and so, some moron on our
platform….I got sued by Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift sued me, how
cool is that? Not actually cool. But because someone decided to go
and to loot from her, and to basically produce, and basically go
and take her stuff and post it on a Clickfunnels page, and try to
start selling it. They weren’t suing me, I was able to go and turn
it, you know, we had to turn it off, but we get those things every
single day from stuff.
GDPR, when the UK decided to change their laws, we spent over 2
or 3 million dollars and almost a year in development to rebuild
the entire Clickfunnels platform to be GDPR compliant, and then the
next thing and the next thing. It’s just like, “Ah!” anyway, it’s
chaos.
So the bigger you get, the more risk you have. So I want you to
be aware of that, but also I’ve never been someone who’s big into
politics and government, and I’m not going to get on a soapbox now.
But I do now understand way more why it’s important for us to care,
and to vote and to be aware of these things. I want to encourage
you guys as producers, because I think sometimes we’re like, “I’m
just going to work and work through it and just forget everything
else and let it all fall to the wayside.” That’s what, always my
philosophy, but after reading this, I see why it’s important for us
to be involved in those kind of things. So that’s number two.
And number three, is just kind of coming back to number one.
It’s similar to number one, but just understanding how vital and
how important it is for you to produce. You can’t stop, you’ve got
to create. As soon as, and if the laws and the taxation and all
these things get worse and worse and worse for us, to a point where
you have no risk, or excuse me, no reward..You know, when there’s a
point where you lose your reward, then we start risking. Producers
will stop risking when they lose their reward. And there are people
who do not want you to have the reward of your effort, of your
brains, of your hard work, your determination, all the things
you’re doing.
So it’s like being, just important to understand that because I
think that if we’re not careful sometimes it seems hopeless. Why
should I even try? I’m not going to lie, sometimes during this book
I’m like, “I’m out. Peace.” I don’t even want to try anymore
because it can all be taken away by the looters, by the government,
by things like that. And I think it’s just important to understand
how important it is to produce and keep producing and keep working
towards it.
It’s funny, a lot of you guys I’m a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and we read a book called the
Book of Mormon as well as the Bible. And in the Book of Mormon
there’s this section where there’s this evil King Noah, he lived
back in Ancient America. And they’re talking about how he taxes
people to the point where the burden was so heavy, and it’s crazy
because he said he taxed them 1/5th of all they
possessed. I told my kids I’m like, ‘Evil King Noah taxed them
1/5th.” They’re like, “Whoa, that’s a lot of money.” I
was like, “So if you had a dollar, they’re taking 20 cents.”
They’re like, “Whoa.” I was like, “Guess how much Uncle Sam’s
taxing me right now?” They’re like, “What? What? 10%, 15%?” I’m
like, ‘It’s more than 50.” What? It’s just crazy the world we’re in
now. Anyway, it’s just crazy.
I am pro capitalism, I’m pro democracy, I’m pro all these
things. Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you guys because
it’s been top of my mind recently just thinking about it, thinking
about how vital it is for us to keep producing. And again my
message to you, to all producers, to all entrepreneurs, all the
people who listen to me, to the sound of my voice, we have to keep
producing because I’ve seen a glimpse by reading this book. I’ve
seen a glimpse of what happens to society and the economy if we
stop.
That’s number one, number two, is we have to be aware of the
people, the things that are trying to stop us from producing, the
looters who are trying to take away our freedoms, trying to take
away our money, trying to take away the reward we get for our risk
because if they do take away your reward there’s no reason for any
of us to risk. And then that’s the second thing that will
happen.
There’s two ways for this whole game that we’re playing to
crumble. Number one is us stop producing, number two is the looters
coming in and creating the things that keep us from having any
reward for our risk. So just be aware of that. It’s important to
fight for it, it’s important for us to keep it because if not,
what’s the point of any of this stuff?
So yeah, that’s all I got. With that said, I appreciate you guys
listening, I’m going to keep reading the book. When I get done
maybe I’ll do a wrap up episode, but I recommend reading it, just
to think through it. I’m sure some of you guys are going to agree
with it, some of you guys will disagree. That’s okay, it’s good for
conversation. I just think for you specifically, because if you’re
listening to the sound of my voice right now, you are someone who’s
a producer, who’s trying to create, who’s trying to give, who’s
trying to serve. And it’s just to help you understand why what
you’re doing is so valuable and so important, and how to protect
it.
And if you get nothing else from this podcast episode besides
that, I hope that that helps. You are important, and you gotta
protect that right. With that said, appreciate you all, thanks so
much for hanging out and for listening and I’ll talk to you soon.
Bye everybody.
Comments