Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Finding Your Message, Building a Tribe, and Changing the World - Russell Brunson

Partial Excerpts (antilibrary)

Copyright

2017

Foreword

“Expert Secrets is the map that will allow you to turn your specialized knowledge, talents, and abilities into a business that will work for you! This is one of the shortcuts of the new rich.” by Robert Kiyosaki (Ugh)

You are already an expert.

If you aren’t familiar with my work, I teach a system called the Cashflow Quadrant. I explain that you are in one of four places in your work life. You’re either an employee (E), you’re self-employed (S), you own a business (B), or you’re an investor (I)

To become financially free, though, you must move through the quadrants and get to the business and investor stages as quickly as possible.

Information is how that’s done

My Rich Dad Company is essentially an expert business

regular” businesses can use the Expert Secrets process to create and sell information, too.

if you attach an information business to the front end of your existing business, you can reduce your customer acquisition costs to practically zero

when you use this book with ClickFunnels (a software tool Russell created that we use in the Rich Dad organization)

Acknowledgments

thanks to Daegan Smith. A few years back, he had a conversation with me about “belief” and what’s possible when someone truly believes in something. We then started talking about how we could create that true belief in the minds of the people we were trying to serve

What Is Expert Secrets?

Expert Secrets is the second half of a journey you have already started. Something you experienced in your life started you on this path, which caused you to want to become more.

become who you are today, an EXPERT

The only way to continue to grow is by helping others become like you. Yes, true growth and fulfillment comes from your contribution to others.

Your message has the ability to change someone’s life

Expert Secrets will show you how to build a mass movement of people whose lives you can affect…

Introduction

I had just gotten married earlier that year, which meant I was one of just two married guys on the Boise State wrestling team

I was a sophomore at Boise State University. For months leading up to spring break, I had been studying marketing and learning how to sell things online

On the third day of spring break, after we’d watched about a dozen movies, we decided we had to get out of the house and do something. That’s when Nate said, “Hey, we should make a potato gun.”

We spent the next few days making the gun and, when it was finished, we found a secluded location and started shooting it.

We spent the rest of that week making more guns, trying out other plans, and even creating some designs of our own.

I thought, I wonder if anyone else besides me searched for information on how to make potato gun plans last weekend. There are places online where you can see how many searches in Google are happening each month. So I went to one of those websites, typed in the keywords “potato gun”, and found that over 18,000 people that month had searched for the phrase “potato gun plans”!

we turned our homemade video into a DVD to sell online.

averaged anywhere from $20 to $30 a day selling that product

we all need help to grow. And we seek out experts for that help.

The Two Types of Expert Businesses

The tactics behind both are the same, but the strategies are a little different

EXPERT BUSINESS #1: SELLING INFORMATION PRODUCTS

information products, coaching, and consulting

At some point, we realize the only way to keep growing isn’t to learn more, but instead to shift our focus from personal growth to contribution.

EXPERT BUSINESS #2: LEVERAGING INFORMATION PRODUCTS TO GROW AN EXISTING COMPANY

Many people ask me how we turned ClickFunnels into the fastest growing SAAS (software as a service) company in the history of the internet without venture capital or any kind of start-up backing. The answer is that I first focused on selling information products as an expert that indoctrinated our customers, and made them desire the real service we were trying to sell them. (stair-step)

each of our customers purchases an information product from us to start, and we actually make money on that first transaction. Later, we introduce those customers to ClickFunnels, making our cost to acquire a customer (CAC) less than $0 —because we already got paid when they purchased our information products!

SECTION ONE: CREATING YOUR MASS MOVEMENT

When I first started on this journey, I realized that if I was going to have success, I needed to focus first on building an audience of people I could share my message with

started studying historical figures

three things in common that helped them build a mass movement.

• 1. They each had a charismatic leader or an attractive character.
• 2. Each of them focused on a future-based cause that was bigger than themselves.
• 3. They each offered their audience a new opportunity.

I applied those principles to my audience. And I watched as people quickly transformed from mere followers into true fans

In 2008, Kevin Kelly wrote an article called “1,000 True Fans”.

This section is all about HOW to create those true fans, how to build your following. We have a joke inside my highest-level mastermind group (called the Inner Circle) that each of them must focus on building their own CULT-ures

Secret #1 The Charismatic Leader / Attractive Character

Every great mass movement has a leader

when I’m in my element, speaking about the topics that I’ve mastered, I am able to lead. You see, people become leaders when they first try to master something for themselves. Then after they’ve discovered a path for themselves, they share their knowledge with others. It starts with your own personal growth, but then transitions to contribution

when I look at all these amazing people changing the lives of tens of thousands (and in some cases millions) of people, almost all of them have felt an internal pull to want to serve and help people.

Yet at the same time, they have this other voice that consistently tells them they’re inadequate, that they’re not enough

I would say that one of my superpowers is being able to look at a business or a product line and within seconds know exactly how the owner should be selling those products

Now I wasn’t born with this power. I’ve spent over a decade of my life studying this stuff, learning and experimenting with it.

My guess is that your superpower won’t seem like that big of a deal to you either. It will be something that comes second nature

My results are my certifications.

Tony Robbins told me that when he first started learning neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), he signed up for a six-month training course, and after just a few days, he fell in love with it. He gained skill quickly and wanted to start helping people immediately. The trainers said, “You can’t, you’re not certified yet.” Tony said, “Certified? I know how to help people. Let’s go help!” That night, he left his hotel room, walked across the street to the nearest restaurant, and started helping people quit smoking and assisting them with lots of other amazing things. He ended up getting kicked out of the program because he was practicing without being certified

you just have to be one chapter ahead of the people you’re helping.

WHO DO YOU WANT TO SERVE?

almost all expert businesses are based on one of three core markets: health, wealth, or relationships. So my first question for you is which of those three matches your area of expertise right now?

we need to dig at least two levels deep to find your specific audience

what submarket does your area of expertise fit right now?

The riches are in the niches. And those are one step beyond the submarket (niche down)

What can you offer people that’s different and special? The goal is to carve out a unique spot in that ecosystem where you can thrive. That’s your niche. And that niche is one of the keys to success as an expert

The mistake many people make today is they start looking at the niches, find one that looks good, and start building their company from there. The problem is that jumping into an existing niche is stepping into someone else’s blue ocean

I suggest that you look at your submarket and try to create a new niche, a fresh blue ocean for yourself (CategoryPirates)

When we get to Secret #3 later on, I’ll show you how to identify exactly WHAT you are offering and HOW you are unique in your niche.

here are some examples to help illustrate those blue oceans.

Secret #4 The Opportunity Switch

You’ve chosen a niche you want to create. Notice that I didn’t say “pick a niche”. It’s essential for you to create a NEW niche, a NEW opportunity for your people

And you know a little about what you want to share. But so far you don’t have anything to sell. The relationship between you and your audience isn’t created until they pay you

If you’ve read DotComSecrets, you know that one of the first things I teach people is to figure out who their dream client is. (ideal customer)

soon I met a guy named Drew Canole, the owner of FitLife.tv. He was a super cool guy and had a successful business in a market I cared about. Here was someone I thought I could help. Eventually, a mutual friend introduced us. I went to Drew’s house and talked with him for a bit. He mentioned some of the things he was struggling with. Then I asked him, “Would you mind if I came back and just worked a day for free to see if I could help?”

We found that their funnels were making money, but they weren’t profitable

between the day I spent in their office and the time going back and forth through email, I think I spent about a month coaching them through the whole funnel-building process for free

At the end of it, they launched their new Organifi funnel, and it absolutely blew up! They were making $20,000 to $30,000 a day

I didn’t ask Drew for this, but in exchange for my help, he made a video for me talking about the transformation his business went through and the results we got for them. After I saw that video, I knew I was ready to launch the Inner Circle, because I had proof

The goal with this or any kind of business is not to lead with “How can I sell my product?” Instead, you want to ask, “How can I serve people? How can I prove my stuff works? How can I get results for somebody else?” (create a customer)