You’re Only One Funnel Away: The Backstory Behind ClickFunnels - #Success - Ep. 137

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The Russell Brunson Show 57 min 1 speaker 4 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

Russell Brunson 0:00

Do you have a funnel but it's not converting? The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good but you suck at selling. If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next Selling Online event by going to sellingonline.com slash podcast. That's sellingonline.com slash podcast. This is the Russell Brunson Show. What's up everyone? This is Russell and I've got a couple of cool things for you guys. Number one, We are at the end of this podcast. It's crazy, the journey. I'm actually right now, if you see behind me with Claude and Code, I'm taking every podcast episode I've ever done from marketing in your car, had a few hundred episodes, three or four hundred episodes, and then the Marketing Secrets show, which had like eight or nine hundred episodes, and then the Russell Brunson show, which had, I don't even know, 50 or 60.

Russell Brunson 0:52

And we're in the process of sunsetting everything to relaunch my podcast. And my YouTube channel and my brand and a whole bunch of things which is really exciting So what's crazy is that this week? I'm actually starting filming so that's happening very very soon and so I yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of where I'm at in, in some things. And so a couple episodes left of recording, we're trying to get a batch of, you know, three or four weeks full so that, uh, before we launch this that way, if I get in the middle of a funnel hacking live or an event or something that I can keep up with it and not fall behind. So we're gonna be filming a bunch of next couple of weeks. Um, and then launching the new show, new shows and called bootstrap secrets, which is exciting.

Russell Brunson 1:28

I'm talking about this now for probably a year, but it's finally coming to fruition and it's gonna be exciting. So, uh, I was thinking like, how do I kind of, what are the things I do to wrap up this podcast? Um, And so I had two ideas. When we first started this whole party, you know, with the ClickFunnels, with the podcast, the live events, everything, one of the core themes that kind of bubbled up a couple years into it was that you're one funnel away. and uh he hasn't heard me talk about this now for man almost a decade which is crazy um but the very first time i announced it and told the story was that funnel hacking live and i told my one funnel way stories it was all the things i'd done leading up to click funnels um the click funnels launch which is kind of crazy and so um yeah so it uh

Russell Brunson 2:18

was really cool and then at this last Funnel Hacking Lab I did another one that was called One Funnel Way I think called OFA Evolution but it was like everything all the funnels after ClickFunnels launched and so I thought what a fun way to kind of um you know end this journey this season this whatever of the podcast with uh these two sessions so this week today we're going to show you guys the one fun the original One Funnel Way presentation and I hope that It gives you guys some motivation. It's going to take you back to my beginnings, back when I was getting started trying to figure this stuff out. And you'll hear all the different things we tried in the funnels and what it was that got us to eventually launching ClickFunnels a decade later.

Russell Brunson 2:57

So that's this episode. And then next week, I'm going to give you guys the One Funnel Away Evolution, which is part two of this, which was basically all the stuff we did after we launched ClickFunnels until now. And so that was a very emotional presentation. But we'll talk about that next week. So I hope you guys enjoy OFA. And like I said, I'm going to be filming the new Bootstrap Secrets podcast this week. Let's go. It's finally happening. I'm excited. I hope you're excited as well. With that said, I hope you enjoy the original One Funnel Away. Okay, so what I want to do is I want to go on a journey with you guys, my journey, which started way back over here on my timeline and my backstory. So those who know me or have heard about me or know anything about this, I got started.

Russell Brunson 3:41

Initially, I started learning about business when I was a 12 or 13 year old kid sitting there with my dad.

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Chapters

4 chapters

1 What is the main topic discussed in this episode? 0:00–11:23 2 How did a late-night Don Lapre infomercial spark Russell Brunson’s first interest in direct-response marketing? 11:23–21:11 3 What happened when Russell mailed 38 hand-stapled sales letters as his first funnel attempt? 21:11–40:51 4 How did Russell discover and start selling information products and his first software idea (ZipRander)? 40:51–57:38

Speakers

1 identified

Russell Brunson 52 min

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Topics in this episode

Dylan 2 Russell Brunson 3 ClickFunnels 3 Funnel Hacking Live 3 sellingonline.com 2 Todd Dickerson 1 Alex Roy 1 One Funnel Away 3 John All 1 Mike Filsaime 1 Matt Basak 2 David Frye 1

Source

Recorded20 Jul 2026

Publisherrss.introcast.io

Transcriptspeaker-named · 100+ languages

Handlerec:19357361

Show notes

When I was a kid, I mailed 38 hand-stapled sales letters to names I picked at random out of the phone book, absolutely certain I was about to get rich. Zero people responded. That was my very first funnel — and it flopped like almost every one that came after it. I’ve failed at more funnels than anyone I know. And that’s exactly why I eventually found the one that changed everything. This is one of the final episodes of The Russell Brunson Show — I’m sunsetting it (along with most of my other channels) to launch something brand new called Bootstrap Secrets. So to close this chapter, I’m taking you all the way back to the beginning with my original “One Funnel Away” presentation: the full origin story, from late-night infomercials to the funnel that literally saved Christmas, to the one that became ClickFunnels. These are the stories that built ClickFunnels into a billion-dollar empire — the ups and the downs — and this is just the beginning of the story. I actually shared part two recently, but before revealing it I figured a good recap was in order, especially as you get aligned for everything Funnel Hacking Live has in store for you this year. Key Highlights: ◼️The 38-stamp disaster and the infomercial that ruined me for a normal life — how Don Lapre’s “$30 turned into $30,000” classified-ad pitch lit the fuse when I was a kid ◼️The funnel that saved Christmas — broke and one payroll from bankruptcy, hanging Christmas lights in the freezing cold, I blended two ideas into a free-CD offer that pulled 800 buyers and $55K in two weeks ◼️The lesson that turned it into a real business — “until you have continuity, you don’t have a business” — and how ~800 people at $37 a month finally gave me one ◼️Why you’re always “one funnel away” — the up-and-down wave every entrepreneur rides, and why the only way to find the winner is to launch again and again (one funnel-hacker ran a new funnel every week until one became the biggest-selling funnel in history) ◼️The webinar I gave 70+ times — the single funnel that took ClickFunnels from zero to 10,000 and then 30,000 members Here’s what I hope you feel, especially if you’re in the crash part of the wave right now: every overnight success you’ve ever seen is sitting on a pile of funnels that flopped first. I didn’t win because I was smarter — I won because I was willing to try one more time than made sense. So as I close out this chapter of the show, let me leave you with the question the whole journey comes down to: are you really out of options… or are you just one funnel away? ◼️FUNNEL HACKING LIVE AI: The last Funnel Hacking Live ever is happening this September in Las Vegas — one final, smaller, AI-everything encore before it’s gone for good. If you’ve never been, this is your last shot to be in the room. → https://www.FunnelHackingLive.com ◼️If you’ve got a product, offer, service… or idea… I’ll show you how to sell it (the RIGHT way) Register for my next event → https://sellingonline.com/podcast ◼️Still don’t have a funnel? ClickFunnels gives you the exact tools (and templates) to launch TODAY → https://clickfunnels.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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