Question Featured On: Episode 4 - #AskRussellAnything

There are a lot of mistakes people make. I have a Funnel Hacker Cookbook coming out soon to help make this process even easier, but that is beside the point. I feel like part of this is my fault. When we first came out with Clickfunnels, we talked about funnels and wrote this book called Dotcom Secrets talking about funnels. Everyone got good at funnel structure and became funnel consultants and they structurally built the right funnel and then they plugged in the person’s products and launched it and it didn’t make any money.

I had someone message me today asking what products they need to buy, so they can plug them into funnels, make some money and then invest in my coaching. The biggest problem people make is that it’s not the funnel. The funnel is important but that’s like saying you have a retail store and there’s a bunch of really cool banners strategically located to get someone to come in and go to the product you want and then go to the front desk. That’s cool, but there’s not a message. You have to understand the market.

If you want to be successful in this business or any business you have to do your homework and understand really well who your customer is and what they want, what their desires are. What keeps them up at night? What are their fears? Then you have to understand how to communicate with those people. That’s why I wrote Expert Secrets. It’s talking about communication and presenting and things like that. How to structure ideas in the right way and how to make an offer versus just selling a product. How to tell stories and all those things.

I tell people all the time that Dotcom Secrets is the science of how to build a funnel and Expert Secrets is the art. A lot of people struggle in this business because they’re really good at the science or they’re really good at the art. The reality is you have to have both. If it’s just science anybody could just plug in any product and make money. If it was just art then anyone who is creative could make money. There are the two pieces, the art and the science.

So I think the mistake people make is that they’re either artsy or scientific and do one or the other and fail because it takes both. So what I would say is if you’re a nerdy, science person then partner with somebody who is the expert who can do the art. If you’re really artsy then find a funnel consultant to do the funnel part. It’s understanding the art and science weaved together that makes this business work, makes funnels work, makes products sell.

It’s a left brain/right brain thing. It’s hard to do both. Some people have it, but if you don’t just realize you need a left brain and a right brain. I had Alex Mendossian tell me that in every business there are two types of people, starters and finishers. You have to figure out who you are and then find the other person. I would say the same thing is true with this. You’re either going to be really creative or really analytical. Surround yourself with the other ones.

A really good example of that, I’m creative and like creating stuff. Guess what stresses me out and scares me more than anything on planet earth? Excel, I hate it. I hate numbers and metrics. But I have John and John loves Excel and numbers and metrics. So John runs all of our numbers and metrics and ads and all that kind of stuff. I can’t do that. I login to Facebook and people think I’m really good at running Facebook ads. Do you honestly think I’ve ever logged into the ad platform? One time I did accidentally and saw all these numbers and I closed it. I’m grateful for John to do that for me. I’m the creative, not the numbers.

So figuring that out and understanding who you are and being okay with that. Don’t go try and learn Excel because that doesn’t work. Double down or triple down on your strengths and find people who will compliment for the other pieces.