Russell Brunson Net Worth: The Man Behind the Funnels

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If you’ve ever looked up sales funnels, you’ve probably come across Russell Brunson.

Not surprising - he’s one of the first people who popularized the idea of sales funnels, and he created plenty of side projects to promote his own tool.

And during the 10x Growth Conference in 2018, he managed to earn $3 million in just 90 minutes.

His SaaS business, ClickFunnels, had an estimated $360 million value in 2017, and his personal net worth is estimated at $37 million.

But how did he get there, and what can you learn from him?

In this article, I’m going to explain how Russell Brunson reached his $37mil net worth, and how you can do it too!

1. Who is Russell Brunson?

Russell Brunson was born in 1980, in Utah. Even as a kid, he was obsessed with consuming advertising and marketing materials.

Advertising materials to Russell were what comics were to other kids.

It was during that phase that he got his early direct response marketing beginnings.

As time passed, studying direct response marketing gained significance for Brunson.

As a method that’s meant to encourage prospects to immediately convert, it laid the foundations for his sales funnel methods.

Okay, but where do the potatoes factor in?

And what the heck has that got to do with sales funnels?

Here’s how it went down: in 2005, Russell created “How to Create a Potato Gun” - a series of DVDs meant to promote his potato gun kit.

People who ordered the DVDs were encouraged to buy his kit.

If you’ve seen some of his contemporary methods, you’ll notice that this is an example of up-selling to customers.

It’s something that will go on to define his approach to sales funnels and sales in general.

After, he sold all kinds of products imaginable - from supplements and coupons to software and t-shirts. He even had great success in network marketing.

Not surprising, when you consider his direct response beginnings.

By the time he got his degree and spent a year in the “real world,” Brunson had already made his first million.

2. Russell Brunson’s net worth: Getting to $37mil with ClickFunnels

The real party starts when ClickFunnels walk in.

In 2014, Brunson launched ClickFunnels with his partner, Todd Dickerson.

2.1. What is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels is an online sales funnel builder.

If you take a look at the image above, you’ll see what it does in a nutshell.

In short, ClickFunnels was made to streamline building sales funnels, and create a tightly integrated marketing system.

With ClickFunnels, every entrepreneur could now become the next Sam Ovens or even the man himself, Russell Brunson.

Wait, what are sales funnels?

Sales funnels are models that visualize how your customers find your products; from becoming aware of them, to purchasing them, and continuing to buy more of your products and recommending you to their friends.

ClickFunnels was the first software to offer everything you need to market your business in one tool.

When you look at the features and at Brunson’s previous experience, you can see how ClickFunnels became a masterpiece of his direct response approach:

Capture and convert leads ASAP with direct response copywriting and offers
Attract more visitors to your website with affiliate marketing
Up-sell to customers who’ve already bought your products

Within the first 3 years, the company grew to $100,000,000.

2.2. How did ClickFunnels become so popular?

You don’t grow to $100,000,000 with luck, so here’s what went down:

Remember when I said Brunson cut his teeth on network marketing?

This business model may get a lot of bad rap for companies who were actually pyramid schemes, but when done legitimately, network marketing can give you plenty of valuable sales lessons.

Primarily, you need to create value with your product, and clearly illustrate how your product is going to help your customers achieve their goals.

In his works and teachings, Brunson calls this “the Value Ladder:”

You start with the bait, delivering a convincing offer.

Then you continue by adding even more value to up-sell your customers, and ultimately, convince them to refer their friends.

And of course, you start your own affiliate marketing program.

In fact, if you’re asking me to find a single thing that helped ClickFunnels succeed, I’d say: affiliate marketing.

Brunson did a great job recruiting affiliates, and having them promote his product.

This is why you’ll often see posts titled as: “Is ClickFunnels legit?”

Unfortunately, Brunson hasn’t been very strict when recruiting affiliates, so the program grew a life of its own, and ultimately, there were some poorly chosen affiliates.

In general, Brunson created his own marketing machine for ClickFunnels out of a network of hundreds and thousands of affiliates promoting his products.

This is a legitimate method. And if you’re a first-time business owner, it’s a cost-effective one, too.

You don’t have to pay affiliates their commission until they successfully sell your products.

It’s no wonder that affiliate marketing became a core part of ClickFunnels’ offer.

3. Making funnel magic: Russell Brunson’s books

In addition to building software for sales and marketing, Brunson also became a prolific writer.

He’s sold hundreds of thousands of copies of his 4 books, all of which deal with marketing your online business.

3.1. DotCom Secrets

I’ve recently reviewed DotCom Secrets, and I found it to be a good book when it comes to marketing your business for the first time.

Even if you want to improve your marketing strategy, it’s full of actionable advice:

Sales funnel scripts
Identifying your target audience
Creating direct response landing pages

And more!

Brunson really covers a lot of what made him successful in the past, and it all stems from those early direct response days when he’d consume advertising materials.

DotCom Secrets was sold in over 200,000 copies.

The most interesting thing is the fact that you just have to pay for shipping.

The book itself is free.

Another one of Brunson’s up-sell and lead generation gimmicks? Likely.

But it’s successful.

DotCom Secrets is a phenomenal bait, as Brunson would put it.

In order to convert leads into customers, you have to give them something valuable first.

Now, the majority of online businesses create eBooks, videos, webinars, and give them away for free.

However, Brunson turns “baiting” into a work of art, which makes his book worth the read.

Also, pay attention to how his book isn’t an eBook.

You still have to pay for shipping.

This is all a part of the sales funnel strategy; you’ll be making a micro-commitment, which will make you more likely to buy his software by the time you finish reading.

3.2. Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson

Expert Secrets is all about transforming your business into a movement with storytelling. I’ve also reviewed Expert Secrets a while back.

In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting books Brunson wrote, and I can see how it sold over 200k copies.

Business owners have been endlessly fascinated with the so-called belief marketing.

It’s lucrative: you’re not converting leads into customers, you’re converting them into evangelists and believers.

It’s a great way to encourage referral marketing at scale.

Expert Secrets covers the following:

How to become a thought influencer
How to appeal to your customers’ hopes and goals, instead of fears and pain points
How to emphasize the movement and the revolution behind your product
A script for turning your brand’s story into a mind-blowing movement
How to pre-sell your customers on your offer

And more.

It’s honestly a fascinating read.

I’d recommend Expert Secrets to online business owners who already have customers, and want to increase their lifetime value.

3.3. Traffic Secrets

Guess what? I reviewed Traffic Secrets too!

By now, you’ve probably realized how well Brunson does his job. He’s definitely a sales expert.

But while he discussed sales funnels in his previous two books, Traffic Secrets deals with getting traffic into your funnel.

This is definitely the best book if you’re starting an online business.

You could have a nicely structured sales funnel, but you won’t get much use out of it if you don’t get leads and visitors first.

How does Brunson recommend you do it?

Identify your customers and find out where they hang out online
How to stop the scroll and catch your customers’ attention
Safeguard your traffic against algorithm changes
How to use other people’s networks to get your own customers
Growth hacking

And more.

Seriously, Traffic Secrets is a great overview of the best traffic generation strategies.

Even if the first time you heard about SEO was three days ago, you’ll learn enough to start generating more visitors.

3.4. Network Marketing Secrets

It’s all about secrets with Russell, but I want to do him justice: he, unlike other entrepreneurs and salesmen, at least shares some of his in his books.

Network Marketing Secrets is all about building your network; from affiliates to leads who are ready to buy from you:

Differentiating your business from the competition
Reducing sales funnel friction and increasing sales
Creating an automated sales funnel that generates leads and sales on autopilot

While this book primarily speaks to network marketers(another target group for ClickFunnels), you’ll also find it valuable even if you’re running your independent business.

Let’s be real: business is all about community.And if you can make your leads feel like a part of an exclusive community, you’ll win.

4. Conferences and other activities

Brunson also generates a lot of money through conferences like the 10X Conference that earned him $3mil in 90 minutes.

His speaking engagements start at $500,000.

5. How did Russell Brunson grow his net worth?

All things considered, here’s exactly how Russell Brunson grew his net worth:

He mastered the art of direct response
He applied the direct response approach to modern technologies
He popularized the idea of sales funnels and created scripts for entrepreneurs to follow
He capitalized on the idea of sales funnels with ClickFunnels
He wrote 4 books to promote ClickFunnels and give extra value to leads and customers
He maintains his net worththrough speaking engagements and consulting