Russell talking about a recent identity shift and how it’s changing his own personal life, and how mastering this concept can help you as well. On this episode Russell talks about identity shifts and how you can use them to become something or someone that you want to be. Here are some of the gems from this episode:

-- Find out how James P. Friel became a drummer and a cyclist by having an identity shift.

-- Find out why wrestling caused so many problems with Russell’s weight fluctuations and how he’s trying to change that.

-- And see how you can use identity shift to help your customers become a member of your community.

So listen here to find out how you can use an identity shift to become what you want to be.

But it all started with the identity shift. Me not saying, I’m going to go try riding a bike. I’m going to go try running. Like I normally would do. It’s me saying, “Okay, I am a biker. I am a cyclist. This is something I do now.” And I have to start looking at it, the people who are successful at it, what do they do? I need to model, I need to look close at them and figure out, “This is what people who are successful, this is what they do, this is what they buy, what they do, what they believe, this is how they do it.” And then I need to do it as well. I need to model it as close as I can.

-- 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.

Hey what’s up everybody? Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Today I am streaming to you from Bear Lake, which is my family’s vacation we’ve been doing every year now for 15 years. I got a message for you today about identity shifts. We’ve talked a lot about it in the past, but I want to tell  you the practical application, and how it’s working in my life right now.

Alright everybody, so if you’ve been hanging out in my world for a little while, you’ve probably heard us talking one time or another about identity shifts. In fact, two years ago at Funnel Hacking Live, Mr. James P. Friel got on stage and he shared a really cool story about identity shifts. I’m hoping that Funnel Hacking Live, that we’re able to go this year and that Covid doesn’t hit because I’ve got some really fun things planned, specifically around identity shifts, that I’m hoping we get to do sooner or later, because it’s going to be really cool.

But those who watched the Two Comma Club Live, I actually streamed part of James’ presentation talking about identity shifts. And then also in the new Expert Secrets book I talked about the importance of us creating identity shifts for our followers, for our fans, for people that are buying our products and services. So it’s a big topic and it’s important, and it’s something that’s kind of fun to think about and talk about.

But if you had a chance to hear James talk about it, he told a story about how he wanted to become a drummer, and how bad he was at music and everything, but when he decided, “I’m going to become a drummer.” He didn’t say, “I’m going to become a drummer” and go and practice drums and do little things. He’s like, “If I’m going to do this I need to have a complete identity shifts. If I’m going to become a drummer, what do drummers do? Well drummers, you know they have their own drum kit.” So he bought his own drummers. And drummers they practice, they, he looked at what’s the identity of a drummer? He’s like, ‘I need to take on these roles of a drummer if I’m going to become a drummer.”

Because for someone who’s going to learn how to play drums, it’s really difficult, it’s an uphill battle right. It’s like somebody who wants to learn how to do internet marketing, it’s a hard battle. But those who say, “I want to become a funnel hacker. I want to do what funnel hackers do. I want to model them as close as possible because if I do that, I can become who they are.” And that’s one of the keys with identity and identity shifts.

So it’s been interesting because, those who don’t know, here’s my confession for those who don’t know. It’s funny, I get people who comment on this a lot from the outside in because they see different ads, me going live on Facebook, here and there and stuff. And if you haven’t noticed, my weight fluctuates a lot. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Mostly because when I started wrestling, you know, I was losing on average, my sophomore year I was losing 30 lbs a week. I’d come in and jump on the scale at 160, and by Thursday I had to weigh 130. I would do that week in and week out. And basically for the majority of my life through wrestling, that’s what I did. I would come in on Monday, jump on the scale, see what I weighed and have to lose anywhere from 10 to 15, up to 30 lbs by that Thursday for matches, for weigh ins.

So doing that for 12+ years of your life, it conditions you to have all sorts of weird food issues and problems and things. So because of that, I’m very aware of it now. So I’ve been doing a lot of things in my life to help overcome that. You know, it’s funny because I am probably the healthiest human on this planet from Monday until Friday. I will eat flawlessly, I hit my macro, I will eat nutritiously, everything is perfect. But then, just like wrestling, Thursday night you weigh in, you wrestle your match, and then you would just gorge on everything you could until Monday, because it’s like, “Look, I didn’t eat this week. So I’m going to eat whatever I want.”

So you’d eat anything and everything you could get your hands on, Monday you’d come in and you’d be 30 lbs overweight again, you’d start the process over. That’s literally been my struggle the next 20 years of my life since wrestling. Monday through Friday I’m flawless, I hit all my eating goals with 100% precision, just like I did in wrestling, I wouldn’t eat or drink and I’d cut 30 lbs in a week. I’m flawless Monday through Friday and then Friday night it’s like, “Well, weigh ins are done. Let’s go out to eat.” And then the party begins. Come back Monday, jump on the scale. I gained 15 lbs over the weekend, start the process over.

So literally it’s been my life for the last 20 years. It’s funny because people are like, “You look like you lost weight Russell.” I’m like, “Well, because it’s Friday, I have lost weight. I lost 10 lbs since Monday.” I go through this cycle and it’s funny. I’ll always get people who notice and comment on my pictures and my photos and I see them and laugh. “Oh, you lost weight.” I’m like, “Yeah, it’s because I’m at the end of the week.” Whereas Monday, they never say that.

Anyway, I know I’m going to get 500 messages from all my fitness buddies and gurus and pals and so, first off, I understand. Don’t try to fix me right now. I promise I have been doing a lot of work on this, and I understand it and I’ve been getting a lot better.

But one of the big things I’ve struggled with as I’ve been getting better, my eating has gotten really, really good, my strength training has gotten really good, but the cardio side I really struggle with. I love wrestling so I’ve tried to weave more wrestling in, in fact, I wrestled 4 days of the last week and a half, which is awesome. So I’m adding more cardio in, but still it’s hard to get the amount of cardio in that you need to be able to be successful with weight loss and getting to what my goals are and things like that, you know.

So I was trying to figure out what can I do, so I tried running. Every time I tried running, I just, I don’t like it. By the time I start running I just get angry, my feet hurt, my back hurts, by the time I’m done I’m just upset, then I just don’t do it again for the next 3 months, 6 months, whatever, as long as I can put it off for. I’m like, ‘Ah, okay. I gotta go run again.” I just struggle.

So recently we were out at Lake Powell with some family friends, and they’re all bikers. Actually, I’ve learned since then that they call themselves cyclists not bikers. Anyway, but they talked a lot about biking and they go, they’re obsessed with it. So as I talked more about just like the benefits of biking versus running, it doesn’t hurt, it’s better on your body, you can enjoy it longer, it’s all the things. I was kind of against it and I’m like, “Ugh.” and kept fighting it and fighting it. But then I kept looking and like, I need a supplement between wrestling practices and other things, like what’s something I could do that will be fun.

And then about the same time, Mr. James P. Friel told me that he got into biking, he got a bike and he started doing all the biking things. And I started thinking about when he said, “I’m going to become a drummer.” And he’s like, he went and bought the drum kit and all the things and all the stuff. He did an identity shift, he’s starting the same thing with biking. He bought himself a bike, and got himself a helmet, and the fancy shorts, all the things. I watched him as he started creating this identity shift away from what it was to “I’m going to take on this identity, I’m going to become someone who is a cyclist or a biker or whatever. I’m going to take on this identity.”

And I started watching it, and it was funny because I saw him do this for a couple of weeks and the next time I saw him, he’d lost a bunch of weight and looked happy, and he’s like, “I’m going biking today.” And he’s doing all these things and I was like, “Oh my gosh.” Okay, if I want to really be successful with this thing, I can’t just keep dabbling, I can’t go running every once in a while, I can’t go exercise here and there. I have to take on the identity of something. And if I don’t want the identity of a runner, what’s the identity that I want?

So I consciously decided, I’m going to take on an identity of a biker. And again, I started posting this, “I’m a biker.” And everybody, all the bikers are like, “You’re not a biker. Bikers are people who drive Harleys. You’re a cyclist.” I’m like, “I hate cyclist, it doesn’t sound as cool.” But anyway, so I kind of flip flop back and forth.

Anyway, I’m like, “I’m going to take on this identity. What do bikers do? They have their own bikes, and they take their bikes on vacation, and they bike here and there, and they wear the padded shorts, and they do the things, they wear helmets.” which I was super against for a long time. But you know what, cyclists, bikers, they wear helmets. So I’m like, I got a helmet.

Anyway, it’s crazy. So I made this identity shift. I’ve gone biking almost everyday. In fact, we brought our bikes on vacation, we went camping and went biking every single day on vacation. It’s like, “Alright, well I’m a biker so I go bike.” So I threw on my helmet and threw on my things and took off, and I’ve been using Strava to track, which is kind of fun because you get to see what you do and how far you go and what actually happens.  I’ve been doing that and then I shifted over to, you know we’re on the second leg of our vacation, which is here in Bear Lake, and every morning so far I’ve jumped on the bike and gone on these hour long bike rides. And by the time I’m done, I’m sweating, I’m losing calories, I’m burning and feeling good. And I’m actually enjoying it, I’m liking it.

But it all started with the identity shift. Me not saying, I’m going to go try riding a bike. I’m going to go try running. Like I normally would do. It’s me saying, “Okay, I am a biker. I am a cyclist. This is something I do now.” And I have to start looking at it, the people who are successful at it, what do they do? I need to model, I need to look close at them and figure out, “This is what people who are successful, this is what they do, this is what they buy, what they do, what they believe, this is how they do it.” And then I need to do it as well. I need to model it as close as I can.

Tony Robbins, you guys have heard me say this before, but he said, “If you want to be successful in life, you need to model those who are already successful.” So if you want to be successful, you need to find someone who is successful, look what they’re doing, look at the identity that they have, and then you need to take on that identity. It’s modeling to the next level, it’s the identity shift saying, “Look, this is what this type of person does, so I’m going to model them, but I need to believe I can do it like they do, and model it like they do as close as I can. I need to shift my identity to where I am that type of person.” Then it becomes easy to adopt those traits and those things.

Right now it’s easy for me to wake up and be like, “I’m going biking.” Because that’s what bikers do. I’m a biker now. Or a cyclist, whatever. Seriously it’s not nearly as cool as saying I’m a biker, but I get it from all my cyclist friends. I’m trying to become one of you and shift the identity and become a cyclist I guess.

So I wanted to share that with you guys for a couple of reasons. Number one, for all aspects of your life. This could be for marketing, but for me it’s weight loss, it’s trying to get consistently happy with my fluctuation, to break my identity of the weight cutting wrestler, who cuts weight Monday through Friday, and then binges Saturday and Sunday, to becoming someone who’s healthy all the time, to becoming someone who rides a bike, to becoming someone who wrestles, who lifts weights, who does these different things. It’s me shifting my identity.

And I’m not perfect at it, I’m becoming better at it. My goal is that someday nobody will notice, nobody will tell, “Hey Russell, it looks like you lost weight.” Because they won’t know, I’ll look the same all the time, which is what I want to do, which would be amazing.

Anyway, the reason I’m telling you this, a couple of reasons, number one, I want you to think about a part of your life. It could be health, could be fitness, could be finance, could be business, could be marketing, could be whatever. I want you to figure out who is the person that you want to be, who’s already done it? Who’s the successful person? Who are you modeling? Finding that person and looking, what is the identity that person has? And if you want to be successful like them, you gotta model them, but more importantly you gotta take on the same identity that they took.

Modeling is kind of like looking and repeating the motions, this is the next step. This is saying, “What do they believe? What do they do? How do they do it?” And then doing it at that deep of a level. And that’s the first thing. So find the thing in your life that you want to change. If you want to become a marketer and internet nerd like me, then you become a funnel hacker. What do funnel hackers believe, what do they do, how hard do they work, when do they work, what do they study, what do they read, what do they do, where do they network, where do they congregate, where do they hang out, what do they believe? Those are the things you should be asking if you want to be successful in business.

If you want to be successful at something else, go find the person, model them, understand them, and then shift your identity. Have an identity shift, a conscious one saying, “I’m shifting my identity to take on and adopt these beliefs, therefore I can be successful like the people I’m trying to model.”

The next thing is understanding that for each of you guys as business owners and people who are building your own tribes and your own followings of people, if you want your people to be successful, it’s more than just giving them a step by step process of how to follow, how to do something. That’s the equivalent of me saying, “I’m going to try and run today. I’m going to ride a bike today. I’m going to go do a thing.” You have to be able to create an identity shift inside of your customers.

You look at somebody like Kaelin Poulin in LadyBoss and you look at their success. It’s not just because they have a good course, not just because they have good supplements, they do, but it’s because when women come into their community, the first thing they focus on is the identity shift, how we get them to shift their identity. How do we get them to believe and become this certain type of person? How do we get them to become LadyBosses? That’s what they focus on.

If you look at their marketing, you look at their onboarding sequences, everything is about giving these women an identity shift. So much so, they change the backdrops of their phones to have the LadyBoss manifesto, every morning they look at the thing. As a company, inside of LadyBoss you look at every morning, they have a morning meeting and they share the LadyBoss manifesto and the entire company as a whole goes and shares those things together. And it helps to get the community, the tribe, the people, the customers, their staff all on the same page.

So for you, it’s the same kind of thing. What’s the identity, if someone’s going to be successful following your program or buying your products, what’s the identity that they need to take on? For me they gotta become a funnel hacker. For Kaelin, they gotta become a LadyBoss. What do they need to do for you? Then strategically start thinking through that. How do I give these people an identity shift? How do I get them to think and believe and do the things they need to do to be successful? If you can make those transitions and help them understand them, and help them believe them, and help them to have their own identity shift, they’re more likely to actually be successful.

So that is the key, I hope it helps. I’m going to do one more thing, actually. This will be fun. I’m going to end this podcast, I’m going to have my brother actually pull this. Kaelin spoke at Funnel Hacking Live multiple times, but recently she spoke, excuse me it was two years ago, specifically about identity shift and some of the things she did, and I’m going to actually replay that episode here as a podcast, over the next episode. So I will have my brother queue that up for the next podcast. That way you can hear some of the things Kaelin did specifically to create this identity shift in her customers and in their lives. And if you ever wonder about their success, besides the fact that they’re smart, they’re hard working, it’s because they understand this principle. And they’re some of the best in the world at doing it.

So I hope that helps. I appreciate you guys. I’m excited for my new identity shift, and hopefully you guys can do this in your own life, but then also in the lives of your customers, and if you can become good at both sides of that, being willing to be someone who can shift their own identity to get the things that they want, and then help other people shift identities to help them get the things that they want, you’ll be more successful in this game.

So thanks you guys, I appreciate you. Hope you enjoyed this episode, and I will talk to you guys all again soon. Bye everybody.