Digital Social Hour
How AI Is Changing Marketing & Funnels Forever | Russell Brunson DSH #1252
Thu, 20 Mar 2025
🔥 Russell Brunson on Funnels, Business Growth & the Future of Online Sales 🚀 In this high-impact episode, we sit down with Russell Brunson, the legendary entrepreneur, author, and founder of ClickFunnels. He shares insider strategies on building successful businesses, mastering sales funnels, and how AI is reshaping the online marketing world. We dive into: ✅ How ClickFunnels revolutionized online business ✅ The biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make with sales funnels ✅ Why AI is changing marketing faster than ever ✅ How to sell online effectively & build a brand that lasts ✅ The mindset shift that separates winners from everyone else This episode is packed with game-changing insights, success strategies, and the mindset needed to dominate in today’s digital economy! 📲 Follow Russell Brunson & Learn More: 🔗 Website: RussellBrunson.com 🔗 Instagram: @RussellBrunson 🔗 YouTube: Russell Brunson 🔗 Books: DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets, Traffic Secrets – Available on Amazon CHAPTERS 📌 00:00 – Russell Brunson on Finding Rare Books & Napoleon Hill’s Lost Work 📌 04:10 – How ClickFunnels Changed the Online Business World 📌 09:15 – Why Major Events Are Disappearing & the Future of Virtual Summits 📌 14:30 – The AI Boom: How It’s Revolutionizing Marketing & Funnels 📌 19:50 – The Secret to Mastering Sales & Closing Deals Online 📌 25:10 – Why Most Entrepreneurs Fail & How to Fix It 📌 30:40 – The Importance of Storytelling in Marketing & Branding 📌 36:20 – Building a Business That Lasts: Long-Term Strategies 📌 41:50 – Why Russell Collects Ancient Books & the Lessons They Hold 📌 47:30 – The Next Big Trends in Online Marketing & AI 📌 52:00 – Final Thoughts & Advice for Entrepreneurs 🔥 Apply to Be on the Podcast & Business Inquiries: 🎙 APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application 📩 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] 🔥 Hashtags #RussellBrunson #ClickFunnels #Marketing #Entrepreneurship #SalesFunnels #OnlineBusiness #AI #PassiveIncome #DigitalMarketing #DigitalSocialHour #Podcast
Chapter 1: How did Russell Brunson start collecting rare books?
I found this piece on eBay. It was Napoleon Hill. Before he wrote Think and Grow Rich, he wrote a book called Law of Success. It was like a 16-book set. And you can buy a first edition for like five grand. But there was a set that was a pre-first edition. Three years before he wrote the first edition, he wrote it. It's kind of like authors write a book now. They print a galley copy.
They'll send their friends and people. Yeah. So he wrote a galley copy of Law of Success three years before he published it. He sent it to the President of the United States and the Queen of England and Andrew Carnegie and stuff. Anyway, there's only one known copy that's complete and he had it signed. It was on eBay for 1.5 million. I was like, oh, that would be...
Anyway, so I didn't buy it for a long time. I was buying every other rare thing I could find, but that one just kept mocking me. I was like, I have to have it. So eventually I went to buy that. And the collector who had it, he'd been collecting Napoleon Hill stuff for 20 years. And so I told him, I'll just buy everything you have.
And so I flew out there and just bought his entire 20 years of collecting and brought it home. And that kind of like started my... the seed of my, uh, my book collecting. And, and then the last two and a half, three years, about 18,000 first edition books and manuscripts and paintings from authors. Anyway, it just, it's been the most fun treasure hunting thing in the world.
All right, guys, Russell Brunson here today, getting ready for his last Funnel Hacking Live ever, man. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. I'm excited.
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Chapter 2: What is the impact of virtual events on the industry?
Yeah, event number 10. Yeah, it's crazy. We started 10 years ago. It was going to be a one-time event with our community, and then it's become this huge, crazy industry-wide event, which is fun. How many were at the first one? Very first one, we had 600 people. And this one will have a little over 5,000. Wow, so 10x. Yeah. It's interesting to see, because Grant's calling it quits, too. I know.
It's crazy. All the big events are going to be done. And TNC got shut down, which is a big one in our industry. So it's going to be next year. It'll be interesting to see who tries to step in and take the void.
Yeah, I'm wondering what's going on in the event space. A lot of people seem to be going virtual.
yeah tony robbins right tony dunn yeah we've same thing it's interesting because we'll make as much or more from a virtual event where i don't have to leave my house there's these huge events that take us you know almost entire year to plan and put together and hotels and all that kind of stuff and so Yeah, I'm sure we'll do big events again in the future.
I'm just I need a break for a couple of years.
Yeah, I think there's a time and place for them. I think people got a little too like gun friendly with them. There was an event every week for like five years straight. So people got burnt out, you know, all these masterminds and everything.
Yeah, for sure. It exploded in the last five or six years. It's been really crazy.
Yeah. Well, I think after COVID ended, people wanted to go to events, but then it just got I get invited to so many events. It's nuts. You got to pick and choose your battles.
Yeah. And that looks similar to like when we started ours originally, I felt like it was it was different. It was unique. And now a lot of people modeled how we've done ours. Now they all look very similar. And it's just kind of interesting. So I want to want to reset, figure out a new way to do it that no one's doing. But I need some space to figure out what's new. Right.
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Chapter 3: How is AI reshaping the marketing landscape?
Yeah.
I think you were the first to do that sort of structure.
Yeah, for sure. With funnels. Yeah. Prior, we were all the people who were doing funnels, all hand building them at the time. And so it wasn't I don't think there are a lot of people who are talking about trying to build something like that. It's almost like everyone's racing towards building something, and then we were the ones who got it done and executed on it.
And yeah, for six or seven years, we were just us before people started kind of copying us.
Yeah, and now you're seeing it with the AI industry, right? People that were working on it for five years before the boom are just cashing in right now.
Yeah, AI is so fast. We have one of our developers who built, in the last two days, built 18 new apps for our for him just using AI.
Oh, crap.
He's like, you used to have to code stuff. Now I just tell the prompts, and then it pops it out, and he's just busting out apps so fast. Apps that were entire brands and businesses, they can rewrite in an hour. It's insane. Dude, it's nuts.
I'm learning the fastest I've ever learned because of AI. I mean, it's unreal. I'm summarizing audio books. I'm like... Getting these health tests, I'm asking AI to improve my health. There's so many uses. It tells you everything, yeah. Dude, it's insane. Are you using it pretty frequently?
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Chapter 4: Why are some entrepreneurs more successful than others?
Oh, there's some that are insane. Yeah. Like you get like a Gutenberg Bible that, you know, I don't think one's sold since the 80s. But yeah, that'd be 80, 90 million. Holy crap. If it was to come to market, which no one will get rid of.
Is that because there's only like three of them or something? Yeah.
Wow. The first one's off the first printing presses, you know. It's insane. There's no top. There's old manuscripts and old Bibles and old Torahs and stuff like that. They're just ridiculous. You could get crazy with it. Yeah. You can go as deep as you want. That's nuts. I just got to make more money so I can get more books.
Yeah, it's interesting because I know you're not really materialistic, right? You're not buying cars and watches and stuff.
I do have a couple of nice watches, but yeah, not too much. Yeah, my wife and I are pretty humble, especially my wife. She's amazing. She's not into all the crazy stuff. And so, yes, we had extra money and I don't know what to do with it. And we invest some, we do some charity stuff, but it was just like...
when these books start coming around, it's like, I think there's, I don't know, they're really fun for me. And it's just a cool place to put your money that, and for me, it's like, we're building a museum because I love, I love storytelling.
And so people can come and like, I just want to like show people and tell the stories about books and the authors and who they were and why they actually matter. And I love that.
Yeah. I know you really value family. I mean, you live in Idaho with all your money, you know, you could have chosen anywhere. So that shows to me, you really value family. Yeah. I love that man. Five kids. Yeah, five kids now, and yeah, it's crazy. Has that been the toughest balance for you with business, family?
With family, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's tough because when we started having kids, like, consciously, I was like, I want to make sure that I'm a present dad. Like, I know a lot of people who are their dads, but they're not present, you know? I was wondering if I could be present. So that's been the balance. Like, how do I...
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Chapter 5: What lessons did Russell Brunson learn from Tony Robbins?
I always wonder what separates those top students from the rest. Have you figured that out yet? Because it can't just be work ethic.
Yeah, I think, I thought a lot about that, because it's all, with some people coming through our door every day, it's like, how do, like, how do, these guys are killing, these guys aren't. Right.
And the one common thread I've seen between people who are successful is like, and the ones that aren't, the ones that aren't are the ones who come in because they're trying to figure out how to make money, and for some, like, those ones always struggle.
The ones who come in and then, they usually come in initially because they want to make money, but the ones who fall in love with understanding the art of it, those ones have success. When they're like, whoa, this is cool. This is how it works. And they start geeking out about that because there's the nuances of the thing, right?
And you have to take something but adapt it for you and for your personality and your audience and stuff like that. And the ones who love it and become obsessed with it, those are the ones that have the most success. And the ones that struggle are the ones who are like, I'm trying to make money. It's not working. Why is it not working? And it's just like... you gotta fall in love with the process.
And then when you do that, for me, when I started falling in love with the marketing and with learning these things, then everything changed for me, you know? I love that. Plus what works in the past doesn't work in the future. Yeah. You get a pattern for what worked in the past, but then you have to figure out like, what are like... I was thinking about this with the house, right?
You have a framework of a house and it's like the structure, but what you have to bring is the art. You have to design and the decor and the painting. I can give you the structure, but you've got to bring your own personality. And if you don't understand it, if you're just trying to make money, it doesn't work, right? You understand, okay, this is awesome. This is how it works.
This is how I can make it work for me. That's the... That's the big change.
Agreed. There's also a lot of just bad coaching, I think.
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