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Russell Brunson has a net worth of over $40 million.
And by the time you're reading this article, it'll probably be even higher.
That's because there are few entrepreneurs who have the passion for online business growth and development as Russell Brunson.
As we'll get into, Brunson surrounds himself with high-achievers and business professionals from all walks of life. His passions expand beyond just growing businesses. He also helps others to make their own impact in the world.
This service mindset has made Russell Brunson extremely wealthy, and yet he retains the same type of drive he had as a broke college student.
But where did all this success come from?
Keep reading because we've got the answers.
Contents
Who is Russell Brunson?
Most digital marketers know Russell Brunson from his work at ClickFunnels. And while the concept of “funnels” and “lead magnets” are so ubiquitous with today's online marketing landscape, it may surprise people to learn that ClickFunnels only started in 2014.
We have a complete ClickFunnels review if you'd like to learn more about it.
But that one company doesn't define Russell Brunson, or his approach to life. In fact, there are 2 areas that he focused on with the same type of intensity that he tackled business: Wrestling and God.
Although Brunson now lives in Boise, Idaho, his early life was spent in Utah. By the end of high school, he was the top ranked wrestler in the state, and came in second in the country at nationals.
When he left college, he was still one of the top 10 wrestlers in the entire country.
Brunson is also a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In addition to his marketing podcast, he also hosts the Book of Mormon Challenge podcast, where he discusses his own journey with faith.
And if you follow him on social media, you'll see that in addition to his focus on athletics and his church, he is also a devoted family man.
How Did Russell Brunson Get His Start?
Like most serial entrepreneurs, Russell Brunson became a multi-millionaire through a plethora of different ways.
He'll argue that his obsessions with marketing started when he was young, sorting through junk mail campaigns and watching the advertisements on TV (instead of actual programming).
His first foray into any kind of business venture though started in college.
With his brother, Brunson learned how to make a screen projector, which he sold to his classmates for $40 (the parts cost him $10).
He eventually was busted for pamphleting cars, but the experience taught him a life-changing lesson: It can be more lucrative to teach people how to make a sale, rather than trying to sell directly to them.
This was the idea behind his next business: a DVD entitled “How to Make a Potato Gun.”
The concept may have seemed silly at the time (and today), but it — along with a few other products he created — made him a millionaire before he graduated college.
How Does Russell Brunson Build His Wealth Today?
These days, Russell Brunson has moved on from the days of potato guns and DIY screen projectors. He now helps thousands of everyday entrepreneurs start and build their own businesses.
As the founder of the “Two Comma Club,” he makes a substantial portion of his income from private consulting and coaching, but there's no doubt that his main income driver is ClickFunnels.
ClickFunnels
It's almost inconceivable to think about how fast ClickFunnels has grown. What started as an idea in Brunson's head as early as 2010, eventually led to a beta launch in 2014, and later, a $100 million valuation just 5 years later in 2019.
That's an astounding growth for a company that seemed to have a lot of stops and starts in their short life.
Even though Brunson is the one most famously associated with Click Funnels, he doesn't actually own most of the company.
Personally, he owns 27%, along with 2 other co-founders (including Todd Dickerson) who each own 27% as well. Brunson's original company, Dotcom Secrets, owns another 19%, bringing Brunson's share to around 46% total.
If you want to become a ClickFunnels user, it'll cost you anywhere from $100-$300 a month.
That's not the only way ClickFunnels makes money, though. There are several training programs and masterminds available too if you're more interested in growing your marketing skills.
At the time of this writing, ClickFunnels is valued at close to $360 million. Since there are no outside investors or venture capitalists to deal with, if Click Funnels ever sold, Brunson's net worth would skyrocket even higher.
Books
At the time of this writing, Russell Brunson has 8 books published under his name.
All of them center around internet marketing: Dotcom Secrets, Traffic Secrets, and Funnel Hackers Cookbook, among others. Most of them also have multiple translations, and appear in hardback, Kindle, and audiobook versions (and there are lots of great audiobooks for business you'll want to check out).
As a contributor, Brunson has collaborated with other business experts on nearly a dozen other books, also business related.
All told, Brunson claims to have sold nearly half a million books. Even though book sales don't contribute an enormous percentage of his net worth, they can create additional opportunities.
Speaking
Once you become a recognized expert in your field, conferences and speaking engagements begin to open up.
Russell Brunson is about as big a name in the online marketing field as you can find. For that reason, Russell Brunson commands nearly $200,000 per engagement.
If you think that his speaking fee is the only way Russell Brunson profits off of his live appearances, think again.
Though most of his speeches center on marketing, Brunson once used a single 90-minute speech to generate $3.2 million in sales. That's a cool $35,500 per minute.
Not every speech is that profitable, but it does show the unique opportunities you can create for yourself once you become an authority in your niche.
Top 5 Business Lessons
With over 20 years of experience in marketing (most of it in the internet marketing space), Russell Brunson has a lot to offer. Here are some of his most valuable lessons he shares in his speeches and books.
Start With the Offer
In a Marketing Secrets podcast from 2017, Russell Brunson explained that the way he creates products is by beginning with the copy.
A lot of people create the product first. I remember when I first learned copywriting, they told me that before I create the product, write the sales letter. Otherwise, you’re going to be like, “Oh my product doesn’t do that or that.” And your sales letter gets worse and worse. Instead write the sales letter first and write all the promises you want and say how do I make my product fulfill these promises.
For most people, this is a backwards approach; after all, how can you know what to write if you don't even know what you're selling?
According to Brunson, this approach not only creates a more compelling copy, but a more compelling product.
By making promises he knows his audience wants, he is duty-bound to fulfill those promises in the product. It's like rolling market research and pre-sales into one.
Moreover, it also lets him know which products are resonating with his audience. Why plunk down thousands of dollars into a widget that nobody wants? In this case, he promises, and the market reacts — good or bad.
Quick caveat: This is not carte blanche to make empty promises. If you fail to deliver, your reputation and that of your business will crater. Be ready to deliver on whatever your audience demands.
Warm Up Your Leads
As you can imagine from a guy whose name is synonymous with online funnels, Brunson is a big fan of the customer journey.
And what Russell Brunson knows better than most is that those customers need to be warmed up over time, not sold to automatically.
How Brunson “warms up” his audience is not too different from the way most people approach it, just on a bigger scale.
He emphasizes the necessity of having an email list; which makes sense, considering email marketing has one of the highest ROIs of any marketing channel.
Brunson is also active on social media, posting inspirational quotes to build his brand and inspire others (and if you're interested in this kind of thing at all, don't miss these find your tribe quotes). By being active where his audience is, he “pre-frames” them to accept his offer when the time comes to sell.
One area that Brunson puts a lot of hard work into is paid advertisements. By at least 1 estimate, Click Funnels spends nearly $70,000 a day on advertisements, though that number may change quite a bit.
As Brunson's mentor Dan Kennedy put it, “The business that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.”
Once you've got your leads generated, it makes sense to continue to warm them up via paid and organic channels. This may take a lot of hard work, but it's one of the many reasons Russell Brunson's net worth is so high.
Study Your Market
Russell Brunson is fanatical about testing. Click Funnels is constantly encouraging its users to challenge which copy or creative is best, and then retest again to be sure.
Then test a thousand more times. Then keep testing.
That's because Brunson understands the value of not only understanding who your market is, but understanding how they're changing.
Some of this comes from the fact that ClickFunnels has been bootstrapped from the beginning. Because they didn't take on venture capital — which he calls “cheating” — Brunson knows that every dollar counts.
And if you believe that those who can spend the most will win, then the less you waste, the more you can spend efficiently.
It's somewhat jarring to hear Russell Brunson speak. Though his net worth is well past most entrepreneurs, he still acts like someone with a chip on his shoulder. He knows that his audience is primarily business owners who want to achieve his success, so he positions himself as their ally…and then sells to them.
Shortcuts are Lucrative
As Brunson found out early in his career, people will pay quite a bit of money to have someone else teach them a skill.
Whether that skill is building your own potato gun or crafting the perfect sales funnel, there is a lot of money to be made in helping people save time and energy.
That doesn't mean that every entrepreneur needs to create a course, but it does mean that you should focus on time as a primary asset.
Why spend years learning how to create a sales funnel, when you can pay $100 a month to have it (kinda) done for you? That's the message he preaches, and it's made him a boatload of cash in the process.
What kind of mentorships or education can you provide your audience? By serving your audience's needs directly, you'll build up credibility when it comes time to sell your services. And you'll be way more successful than you would have otherwise.
Make Yourself Replaceable
Some entrepreneurs really struggle with the ego part of running your own business. Still locked into an “I must do everything” complex, they fail to realize the value of having other high performers nearby.
One look at Russell Brunson's business, and you'll see a who's who of A-list business stars in their own right (along with friends like Tony Robbins).
Brunson chooses to surround himself with people who could replace him at the drop of a hat — not to keep them from competing, but to push him to be better.
It's also allowed him to spend more time on passion projects. Brunson is active with a number of different charities, including Village Impact and Operation Underground Railroad.
At the end of the day, one of the most impressive things is not Russell Brunson's net worth, but his focus on priorities. He keeps business where it belongs, and his personal life where it belongs. That's the type of work-life balance that we all crave.
Do You Have the Patience to Build?
As entrepreneurs, especially those in the digital marketing space, it's easy to think that everyone is an overnight success. That's not Russell Brunson's story, and it doesn't have to be yours, either.
Remember, his first business was in 2004, and it was nearly 13 years before he became the multi-millionaire that so many of us know today.
Does that path describe you? Maybe it will only take 1 great idea to make your fortune, but without the patience and priorities to match, it'll be nearly impossible to capitalize on it.
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