How I got more done today then most people will get done in the next three months, and I did it by leveraging this one simple concept.
On today’s episode Russell is hanging out in a tent in the office because his family is out of town. He talks about how he gets stuff done quickly. Here are some of the awesome things you will hear in this episode:
So listen below to find out how over the last 14 years Russell was able to build up a good enough team to get tasks completed in a day that might take another company an entire quarter to complete.
---Transcript---
Hey everyone, this is Russell. Welcome to Marketing Secrets. If you’re watching this on marketingsecrets.com, watching the video, I’m actually right now inside of a tent in the office. The reason why is because my wife and kids are out of town and I told everyone I was going to camp out at the office. Everyone’s like, “Oh cool. Yeah.” But I was like, “I’m literally going to camp out at the office.” So I brought a tent in and I brought a cot that I almost broke and then Dave brought in a real cot and this is actually incredibly comfortable, so I’m probably going to sleep here tonight. People will show up in the morning and be like, you are so weird.
The reality is, my house right now is under construction and my entire kitchen is gutted, so I can’t even go to my house, I’m living in the pool house and it’s just like, I know it’s first world problems, but anyway. So now I want to talk to you about one thing before I crash because we got a lot of stuff done today. A lot. This is my to-do list and it’s crazy how many things we got done. And tomorrow is another big day as well. And two of my kids come home tomorrow, which I’m insanely excited for.
But what’s kind of cool, let me sit up a little bit, is people always ask me, “Russell how do you always get so much stuff done in the day?” And I really think it’s a couple of things. First off, I do to-do lists like this on pieces of paper with big old marker. Because something about markers, something about crossing things out that is so therapeutic. Because working today, it was like 2:35 or so in the afternoon and I had only crossed off two things so I was like, angry. So I called over my team and I’m like, “Okay, lets cross stuff out.” Everyone’s like, “How can I help? How can I help?” and I’m like, “Steven do this. Dave do this. Melanie do this.”
Everyone was kind of doing things to help us get stuff busted out. And then I’m looking at this and I’m like, what are the things I have to do? What are the, Dan Sullivan called them unique abilities? What are your unique abilities that you have to focus on? It’s funny because I was dinking around doing stuff that wasn’t necessarily my unique ability, I was doing stuff that was, I don’t know, just stuff. I was like okay, a lot of things I could get other people to do, but there are some things that I have to do. So I knew one of them was, we had this new, we’re going after Instagram so we’re starting this drop the mic show that’s going to be our Instagram play to kind of build up our audience there.
But I needed a cool intro video to pitch the concept and stuff like that. I had to write the script for that, so I did that. And I had to figure out a really cool way to demo this stuff on Instagram, on the computer, which was cool. So I went and recorded the voice over and Steven went and edited it and made it the coolest audio intro ever. So that was awesome.
And then we’re a couple of months away from doing our big re-launch of Clickfunnels, at about our 3 year mark. And I don’t know if you guys have seen our old explainer videos, but I needed to update these. So I had to re-write the copy for the first one and I wrote a new explainer video for the Etison editor, which is the web editor. It’s kind of fun, I’ve been like, how do you write an exciting explainer video for a website editor? It’s not, it wasn’t a funnel, just the editor alone.
I actually had somebody today message me on Facebook and ask me, “What’s the script you write for explainer videos?” and I’m like, “I don’t know what the script is. You just have to find the right hook.” So I was sitting there probably 30 minutes. What’s the hook? Why does somebody care about this? I was stuck at what’s the hook? What’s the hook? And then finally I got the hook and I was like, oh my gosh this is it. And then I started writing. As soon as I got the hook everything just started flowing. It was really, really cool. In fact, do you guys want to hear it? Would that be of value?
I’m going to jump off the cot, like I said I am literally camping in the office. So let me jump off the cot. I’m going to read you guys the script so you can see. So the hook that I came up with is I just remember back, what’s a good hook for the editor in Clickfunnels and things like that and I remember that somebody while I was at Joe Polish’s event, I remember we had to write these cards. Like what you do for a company and my card I wrote , we helped take the power back from the tech guys, because there was some InfusionSoft guys there and I wanted to talk about that.
So I remembered that and found the quote “Take the power back from the tech guys.” So I’m like, that’s the hook. Okay, now I know the hook. I was trying to remember a story that ties to that. So I’m like, okay, the hook is the tech guys having the control. So it’s almost like you’re handcuffed. So then I start typing and got into the flow state. So I’ll read this to you.
“Have you ever felt handcuffed as an entrepreneur? Tell me if this sounds like you. You’ve got an idea, it comes to you in the shower or when you’re trying to sleep or often times it’s in the middle of a boring conversation when someone is trying to talk to you about who knows what. When you’re trying to nod and act like you’re actually paying attention, what is really happening is you’re looking and searching for your next big idea. Then, boom, it hits you. You have the idea, you see the vision, you know what you need to do and you know how this thing will change the world.”
And then all the sudden it’ll zoom on the hands and they’ll be handcuffed and it’ll pan back and see a bunch of tech nerds sitting around in a room.
And it says, “And then they got you. You don’t know how to code, you don’t know how to design. You’re being held hostage by the tech nerds that you used to tease in school. Yet somehow things you think should be so simple, things that should only take a few minutes, somehow become hours and then days and then weeks. With each passing day the excitement for your big idea gets dimmer and dimmer and dimmer until one day it’s gone.”
And then we’ll show the idea in a graveyard, with an entrepreneur standing next to it having a funeral. “There’s money wasted, there’s time wasted with little or nothing to show for it.” They’re still handcuffed and the tech guys walk away with all the cash. “Then when all seems lost it hits you again. Yes! Another idea, another million dollar problem that you want to solve. But the problem is you know the pain that would go into getting the tech guys to actually build out what you know needs to be done. And this is where most entrepreneurial dreams die. Somewhere between the idea and your tech guys ability to create the pages you need to sell your big idea.”
Alright so that was this hook. It is that we’re handcuffed as entrepreneurs. So I start telling the story and thinking about that. That all just started flowing, it’s kind of cool. So I’m going to keep going.
“What happened to the good old days where the person who was excited to sell and able to sell, could just stand in front of people and actually sell? Well here I am telling you that those days are officially back. I want to introduce you to the Etison Editor inside of Clickfunnels to let you take the power back from the tech guys.” Then the guy will break the handcuffs and stand there like a free man.
“Yes, the Etison Editor was created so that entrepreneurs like you, who aren’t programmers, who don’t know how to design can easily build pages inside of a funnel that are proven to convert. Let me show you how it works. First pick the type of sales funnel that is scientifically pre-designed to sell your type of product, choose the style of page design that you like best. Click a button and the entire funnel is built in less than 10 seconds. Every page, every step, everything. You can change headlines and your images, add a video, countdown clocks and more. And if you really want to customize a page, we have dozens of amazing elements you can choose from. Just like a painter would pick a color from a pallet, and then drag and drop it onto the page. Move them around to your heart’s content and then send the funnel to go live. In less than 10 minutes you can create what would have taken those tech nerds weeks to do.”
I make fun of them over and over again. “And now the webpage inside your funnel sells as well as you do. Yes, the Etison Editor inside of Clickfunnels lets you take the power back from your tech guys. No longer be handcuffed and held hostage by tech people. You can take control of your marketing and start making sales today. With Clickfunnels we believe that that’s how it should be. So try the Etison Editor today and be free from your tech guys forever.”
So that was the script. That was something I had to write. I’m the one who’s in that pain, who had gone through that experience over and over again. I had to do that, I can’t be focusing on these other things. So that’s what I went and focused on and worked on. Was writing this script. And then I actually wrote another script for another thing. So I ended up writing four scripts today. And then went into our padded room back here and recorded the voice over’s and I got my brother doing the audio editing. Steven did some audio editing. It’s just all these other people.
So the way I’m able to get so much stuff done is, it doesn’t come overnight, so don’t think it’s going to or it has to, but over the last 14 years of me doing this, I’ve built up my team of people who can do all the pieces. And everyone on the team has a unique ability that they’re good at that I’m not. So I know when I have a project, okay there’s people on my team and they each have their unique abilities and I have mine and to get this thing done it takes all of them. So instead of me trying to do Steven’s job or Jake’s job, or Dave’s or Scott’s or any of these other people’s jobs, I just gotta focus on mine. And then everyone do their kind of thing.
Because any one of these projects, I didn’t do all the pieces of it, I did just my piece of it. And because we have a team, it’s able to go fast. So I recommend for you, start building your team. For some reason as entrepreneurs, we think that we have, I don’t know why these, most entrepreneurs don’t think this, but for some reason internet entrepreneurs do, we think we have to do everything. We have to be good at copy and design and pages and everything. But you don’t. You just have to find people and build a team.
I think that for all of us, think about where you’re at right now and look at where you’re weak and where you’re strong. It’s funny because for a long time I always fought, I wanted to be in control and owner, that was my thing. I always wanted to be in control of the business. And now, looking back, it’s the stupidest thing ever. When I gave up control I found good partners and people and connected them and built a team. That’s when things took off.
So for you, I want you guys, the moral of today’s story I guess if you want to call it, is, obviously I’ve been listening to Dan Sullivan, so those of you who have listened to Dan Sullivan recently, he talks a lot about unique abilities. So my moral of the story for you guys is to really identify what’s your unique ability that nobody else can bring to the table. Figure out that thing and look at what are the unique abilities you need to get this thing off the ground. Or get this thing into orbit, or wherever it’s at to get it where you want it to be. If you’re happy with things, then don’t stress about it. You’re good. Just keep doing what you’re doing. But if you want to grow or change or whatever that shift is that you want to make, then look and say what unique abilities do I need on my team to make this happen. And then go start finding those people, start looking for them. Start going out there.
I guess that’s the message for today. Using your unique abilities and others to get crap done fast. Maybe that’s the title. Because that’s the secret. We got a lot done today, its insane. Honestly, almost any one of these little check marks on this list, is something that a normal company does in, I don’t know, a quarter. We did a lot of it today. And tomorrow we’re going to finish these things up. And tomorrow we’re re-launching one, two, three, four, five funnels. That’s awesome. They’re all mostly done, so it’s just going to be busting them out. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Get them all live.
And then what’s going to be cool, if I have time at the end of the day I’m going to be working on a Funnel Hacker App, which is insane. We have this new app coming out, which is going to be cool. Then if I get all that stuff done, then by the time my kids get here it’ll be nice. Then the next set of fun projects happen. I’ll be pretty proud of us if we get these things done. Hopefully that helps you guys.
Identify your unique ability and bring others to your team that have other unique abilities that complement yours. That’s how you’re going to take over the world the fastest. With that said, have fun. I’m going to go to bed in my tent here in the office. And they say it’s not good for man to be alone and I agree, that’s why I’m literally sleeping at the office tonight inside of a tent on a cot. Such a nerd. I love it. Anyway, thanks everybody. We’ll see you guys soon. Bye.