The Roundtable of World Changers (Part 4 of 4)
from Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson
by Russell Brunson | YAP Media
Published: Wed Jun 09 2021
Show Notes
The roundtable interview with Matt and Caleb Maddix and a small group of people who are trying to change the world. Enjoy the final section of this special 4 part episode series.
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---Transcript---
Russell Brunson: Hey, what's up everybody. This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets podcast. Today I want to introduce you to the exciting conclusion of our World Changers Roundtable podcast. This has been the last three episodes you've had chance to listen to them behind the scenes as Matt Maddix and his son, Caleb, and a bunch of amazing people asked us a ton of questions, and I hope you've been enjoying them.
Now, as I told you guys earlier, this interview went for almost four hours. This next episode is about 45 minutes or so long, actually technically 43 minutes. And for the most part, the interview is great, except for, I think that by that time of night, the batteries and the microphone started dying. And so towards the end, some of the audio is not as clear as possible. So you have two choices. Number one, is listen to it and be like, "Oh, it's all right." Or number two, when you get to the bad audio, just skip to the next podcast. But there's some really cool stuff that happens during that time. So I didn't want to just cut it out because I thought it's just really good stuff I think you're going to enjoy.
So some things to talk about on this episode is my morning routine. Like, what does it look like? How do I do it? How do I shift it around? Another one is I talked about my mission. A lot of you guys know I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I spent two years in Jersey knocking doors and I talked about what I learned from that and like the experiences and things like that. We spent a lot of times talking about Operation Underground Railroad and how I got involved and some of the inspiration that came, that led me down the direction we did with that.
I talked about Tim Ballard and some of what he has to deal with as running Operation Underground Railroad and how people are fighting against him and the amazing mission he's doing and how you'll see no matter what mission you're trying to accomplish, Satan and the adversary are always trying to fight against as well. And we talked about how the fact that as you're publishing and you're sharing... One of my big beliefs that comes from scriptures, that your sheep will hear your voice.
And so, there's a lot of cool things and steps. We always talk about owning the devil towards the end. And then we talked about some of the experiences feeding the homeless and the kids and a whole bunch of other stuff. So, anyway, I hope you enjoy this episode. I apologize that some of the audio cuts out at the end, but, you know, battery life. We should be upset at the people who make Lav mic batteries because they're the ones whose batteries died. No, just joking.
But for the most part, hopefully you have a chance to hear it and get some good value from it. Again, I hope you enjoyed this series. We had so much fun doing the interview, and hopefully you got a ton of value for you and for your family. And let me know if you want more of this kind of stuff, this is different than my traditional Marketing Secrets podcast, but hopefully you loved it. If you did, let us know, and we'll continue to make more content like this as well. With that said, we can keep the theme song, we'll jump into four of four of the World Changers podcast interview.
Speaker 2: So I just want to know your daily routine. I just really been getting into my spiritual side, right.
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2: So just tapping into that, more of the importance of that and doing the morning, and if you do anything.
Russell: Yeah, for me, it's-
Speaker 3: Good question.
Russell: ... weird because one of my close buddies, his morning routine is like four hours long. He literally said it to me. I was like, "Oh my gosh." But he has no kids. And so it's tough because I got five kids. So by seven o'clock it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong. It's crazy. It's like kids and food and... So it's like if I have a morning routine at half 7:00, before 7:00, it doesn't happen. And so, it depends. I go through different cycles. Sometimes if I'm writing, I'll get up at 5:00 because that's like really good time from 5:00 till 7:00 when I'm writing. If I'm not writing usually closer to 6:00 and that's the time where I'm reading.
I've never got into meditation, but I do read scriptures. I read things. I want to, I've never had... I need someone to give me a meditation experience that's like magical. Do you know what I mean? I've tried before, I get the apps or whatever. And I'm like, I feel... or whatever. So I would love to go somewhere and have like a really cool... I've just never had one yet. So it's not part of what I do yet. And I take a lot of supplements. So, after my nighttime, I try to put as much supplements into my body as possible-
Speaker 4: What do you take?
Russell: A lot. I could show you the list. There's a lot.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Matt: Well we do know that protein ice cream is one of them, just to let you know.
Speaker 5: How did you develop your supplement line? Do you have like a DNA doctor or...
Russell: Anthony DiClementi has helped me a lot. I think he's cool. I've done blood tests and stuff like that to shift things. I read a lot, study a lot, try things, test things, see what helps, what doesn't. So, I like having just supplements for my body from morning till noon, just because... I don't know, I feel like it's just absorbing all the amazingness from them. And then seven o'clock hits and that's when it's just like, all right from 7:00 till about 8:30, it's like getting kids ready, driving kids to school. My kids are in four different schools, so it's here, there, back and forth, all sorts of stuff.
Male: Do you take them?
Russell: Yeah, I love it. We do, but I love driving to school. It's my favorite part. Because it's like... Anyway, yeah, I fight to drive them. It's like, sometimes they can bring their friends with them. So I get to hear them talk with their friends. And it's just like a cool time, I get to see them go to school. And I don't know, they're just so cute. They jump out and they try to be all cool when they walk in. It's just, I don't know-
Matt: It's a bonding time. It's driving your kids to school.
Russell: Yeah. And I try to get them in a good state, try to listen to music because school's horrible. I don't know about... I hated school.
Matt: Ahh damn, me too.
Russell: And I know I'm about to send them to the thing I hated the most. So I'm like I need to get them in a good state to listen to music, this type of thing. What are you most excited about after school? And trying to give them something so when they send them to like-
Male: Prison.
Russell: ... Oh yeah. And then, so right now I'm wrestling. I have a tournament next week and I'm wrestling. And so-
Caleb: When can we all watch it?
Russell: I'll send you the footage afterwards…
Matt: We need a private Facebook group, man, where you can Facebook live just as a group.
Russell: We're filming it. If I do all right, I'll show you guys.
Male: Okay.
Russell: So right now, at 8:30 at home, and then one of my wrestling buddies shows up. So from 8:30 to 9:00 we wrestle and just beat the crap out of each other, which is like awesome. When we weren't wrestling it was lifting and stuff like that. And then from then I got like all my focus times done, supplementation, kid time, workout. And then I go to the office and that's where my team time's there. So I got a team, that's where we'll be building stuff, a lot of people and-
Female: What time?
Russell: Let's see 8:30 to 9:30. It's about ,-ish,I'll show up, a lot of them will show up. And that's when we're doing more stuff together. I mean, it just depends on... He's got crazy ideas and wants to stay later or whatever. But yeah, I use that and then I get home and I try to play dad from then till about 9:00, taking the young kids to bed by 9:00, and then the older kids are a little later. 9:00 till we pass out and my wife and I can actually spend some time together.
Male: Do you work on Sundays or not really?
Russell: I have a church calling and so I'm doing a lot of social media missionary work and generate leads for the church and stuff. So I do that on Sunday, but it's all focused on church stuff.
Male: You did the 2 year missionary thing. Where'd you go?
Russell: New Jersey.
Male: ... and how was it?
Russell: It was amazing.
Male: What did you think about it. What'd you-
Russell: It was the greatest experience of my life. I was telling these guys yesterday... Typically in someone's life it's the most selfish time of your life. 19 years old, what do most 19 year olds do? Like you're thinking about yourself and your… Yeah. So, it's like you literally are taken from that, you're shipped across the country, across the world. They get rid of your name. You're no longer Russell. I became elder, Elder Brunson. White shirt, white tie, yeah. No, I'm not an elder anymore. I'm not an elder anymore. I got released.
But yeah, there's no dating. There's no calling home, none of that stuff. So you're in a spot where you can't do anything for yourself for two years. You can only serve other people. And most people are angry at you for even doing it. And so it's like just a really cool experience where it's not about you for two years. And imagine the shift that makes in your life where now it's like you come back and it's like... Anyway, it shifts everything, there's no way-
Matt: Yeah, because like you were saying to us, if you can... The best training is gospel work, man, is out there talking to people about Jesus-
Russell: Do you want to hear my pitch?
Matt: ... Huh?
Group: Yeah.
Russell: This isn't the real pitch, but this is like... I mean, think about it. It's you knock on their door and you're like, "All right, this is the deal. If you give up alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, all premarital and extramarital sex, and 10% of your income for the rest of your life, you may get salvation if you don't screw up." Like that's the offer.
Male: Damn.
Russell: So you get home from that and you're like, "I got to sell software. I got to sell Cutco knives." So like pastoral is super easy. That's why all door-to-door salesmen were Mormons. All the companies recruit out of Utah, almost all network marketing companies are founded by Mormons. We love selling. You get home, it's like, "I can use these powers for evil. This is amazing." It's awesome.
Female: So say that one more time. You went so fast. That was great. What was it?
Russell: Alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, or premarital and extramarital sex, extra like other partners. You can have sex with your wife all you want. And 10% of your income for the rest of your life.
Matt: And then you may make it if you don't screw up. How do you say it?
Russell: Yeah. You may get salvation if you don't screw up-
Male: If you do all that, you can still make it, is what you're saying.
Russell: ... But that's the offer, yeah.
Male: Wow.
Russell: Give up all those things.
Male: What do you think is the most important problem and not being solved today? Or you think needs more attention?
Matt: Good question. I would love to end on human trafficking.
Russell: That was good. Actually, I literally didn't go. Human trafficking is... I mean, I can't think of anything worse than that. You know what I mean? Like, I-
Matt: I'd love for you to share your experiences with Operation Underground. Just some of the behind the scenes, whatever you can. And just some of the stories you've heard and just kind of like why you got into it.
Russell: Yeah. That organization is amazing. Tim Ballard is like an angel. I don't know.
Matt: Yeah.
Russell: And I feel bad for him because he's in a spot where literally Satan is trying to destroy him. So he is giving his life, his blood, his sweat, his tears, like literally putting his life on the line every single day. And you have good intentioned people from around the world trying to destroy him. And so it's like, can you imagine that? Like you're going into the deepest, darkest parts of hell and trying to save little children and that's not the scariest thing. Then you get people attacking you and your character and your family and your life. There's a special place in heaven for him.
Matt: Yeah, I agree.
Russell: He's an amazing human. And so that's what I lead with. But then, man, it's been cool being on this journey just because I believed in miracles before, but the stories, when you hear them coming back from these raids and these missions and the miracles that happen consistently over and over and over again, it's just like... It says in the scriptures, "All things denote that there's a God." And you see these things consistently happening. Like God's hand is in it.
The way I got involved in this whole... It's crazy because I told you, I got a call one day from somebody asked me to be a part of it and I was like, "Yeah, I'd love to help." And so, the first thing I did is, my ego is like oh, I know how to solve this problem. So I'm like, "Okay, we're going to build a funnel." We mapped it out and this whole thing. And I'm supposed to go to Utah to present this to all the guys. And I'm totally in my... Trying to serve, but also at the same time, like, "I know how to do this. This is my thing."
Matt: Yeah, you're the-
Russell: Yeah. And I didn't ask God for advice or opinion. I was just like, "Got it. I'm here. I'm going to do this thing." And it's crazy, the day I'm supposed to be driving to Utah, that morning in the shower and I just had this uneasy feeling like... And first time, am I nervous? I'm nervous. Obviously I'm going to be presenting this. What if they don't like it, whatever? But it was more than that. It was just like, "Ah, something's not..." I don't know something's just not quite right.
So finally, I broke down and prayed. I'm presenting this to these guys, is this the right thing? Would you have me do something different? And I don't know if you guys have felt like inspiration from God before, whatever, it is weird and powerful. In that moment it literally was just like, "That's not what you're supposed to do." And I'm like, "What?" And it was like, "You're supposed to be building a documentary. And Nick Nanton is going to help you film it." And I was like, "Nick Nanton?" I met the guy once six years earlier, in passing at a Genius Network event. Maybe said three words to him. I was like, "I don't know if he knows who I am." And so, I'm sitting there, I literally just got out of the shower. My towel's on, I was like, "Nick Nanton?"
So, I find Facebook, I'm like, "I don't know if we're Facebook friends," and we were. So I was like, send an audio, "Hey man, I don't know if you know who I am or not. But we met one time. I know your documentaries, you're really good at it. So this is crazy. But I don't know if you believe in God or whatever, but I just had this impression I'm going down today to Utah to present this thing, Operational Underground Railroad. I don't know if you've heard of it, you should go look it up. But I had a very, very distinct impression that you were supposed to film a documentary for these guys that's going to change... It's going to save a bunch of kids. Do you want to help?"
And that was the message. And I sent it. And I was like, "Oh," started getting dressed. And then come back a bit later on, on the phone there's a message back from him. He's like, "Dude, I just looked it up," He was like, "I don't know what this is," but he's like, "if you'll cover the hard costs for my team to produce this, I'll do everything else for free. I won't take any royalties, any extras, I'm 100% in."
Matt: Wow.
Male: Wow.
Russell: And I was like, "Okay." And so then I called Jake, my designer, like, "Could you make a DVD cover of a movie because we're about to pitch a movie instead of... It could be a design idea, here's the funnel." Like, "We're not doing any of that." So they're designing the stuff. It's crazy-
Matt: This is the day of?
Russell: ... Yeah. So we're driving down to Utah and anyway, we present it to these guys and it's just crazy. We present it, we filled with the Spirit like it's super powerful. And then we got to make a documentary. So Nick Nanton sinks these guys and like so many miracles are mysterious, crazy.
So they were trying to go... They want to go to Haiti because... Have you guys all seen the Operation Toussaint documentary?
Male: Yes.
Russell: Okay, if you haven't, it'll change your life forever. This is the story-
Male: Have you seen it?
Russell: ... It's the whole Operation Underground Railroad story. And the main story is about this little kid named Gardy, who was stolen from... It was actually a church, his church, his dad was the Bishop of the church and his dad actually owned a business. And he'd fired one of his employees and his employees came to church and knew the kid and was like, "Oh, come here." And to get back at his dad for firing him takes him out and gives him to some people, just to mess with him. And the people were traffickers, took the kid off, shipped him out. And anyway, crazy. Anyway, there's so many stories I could tell you. But anyway, so they went down to go interview Guesno Mardy who's the father because that's how Operation Underground Railroad started because this family, this kid. So we go down to interview him. And as they're interviewing him, a year earlier, Tony Robbins actually went on a sting operation with him to Haiti-
Matt: I want to hear about that a little bit.
Russell: ... I don't know much about it. I just know that I saw a picture of him, he's undercover, he had a beard on, he was in a boat. So Tony went on this thing, they arrested all these traffickers on Superbowl Sunday, arrested all these traffickers. And like three months later, the government let them off.
Matt: At the Superbowl, the government, what?
Russell: No, it was Superbowl Sunday and Tony was in the boat, with Tim, those guys, arresting all the people. And anyway, so they arrested all these people, Tony was there, it was amazing. But there's so much corruption in the Haitian government. So they paid off the people and they let them all go. And so what's crazy is that we're trying to recapture these people, all sorts of stuff.
And anyway, so long story short, Nick Nanton's team fly down to go interview Guesno Mardy. So, fly down to interview Guesno Mardy and they're sitting there interviewing him and all of a sudden Tim gets this thing like we found the head lady of the brothel. We located, we know exactly where she's at. We know where all the girls are at. They refound the people from when Tony did the arrest. And so, Nick's here filming this testimonial video and they're like, "We're going to arrest her tonight. Do you want to be part of it?" And he's like, "What?"
And so they get the cameras out and everything. And Nick's undercover, his whole team. Like a bunch of videographers has showed up and now they're undercover in bulletproof vests and so crazy. But anyway, they're going to arrest these... We have all the footage. If you've seen the documentary, you see all the footage of the stuff they just happened... They were not planning on capturing any of the arrests or anything, it just happened because they were there.
And one of the really cool stories that Tim told me is that as they were pulling up to go arrest her, they're pulling up in the minivan and they've got GoPros hooked everything there, they're filming stuff. And this guy was like, "I need a GoPro on my helmet." And they're like, "We're jumping in the car in 30 seconds to arrest... " And his guy's like, "You have to run right now. I just have this feeling. You have to put the GoPro on my helmet." Like, "Dude, we don't have time to find..." Fine, so they duct tape a GoPro on a thing, click record. And they go, jump out, they arrest this girl.
And what happened in the arrest, they arrest the girl, and as they're arresting them, they find her, she's the kingpin of the whole thing. They arrest her, some of the people around, they don't know where the brothel is. And this guy looks over and he sees this little kid like looking out a door and then he goes back in and like, "I wonder if that's her brothel." So he runs over there and comes in to the brothel and walks in and finds all of these men raping kids, like in the act.
And so people start jumping up and running out and he's like... We're trying to capture people, they all escape. Anyway, it comes out of the things, we found the brothel, we saw the people and it's this horrible thing. And Tim walks over and looks up and he's like, "Dude, look at your helmet." And the GoPros they're flashing and they had video... Like you walked in and saw every single trafficker's face as you walked around the thing. They had the things, they were going there to arrest them.
Matt: Chills.
Russell: And there's so many crazy experiences like that, that happened in every single way. They're crazy, they're just insane things. Every time he comes back, I talk to him like, "Tell me another story." He tells you stories. There's so many miracles that happen just on these journeys and these missions that are... It's just crazy. So anyway, it's powerful. I don't know, it's like the plague of our lifetimes that we've got to figure out how to solve. And I was telling Caleb and Matt, we've got a big project we're working on called the Save a Child Challenge where we're rolling out soon, that I think is going to be-
Matt: You'll love this.
Russell: Anyway. It's going to be big what we're going to be trying to do, but it's trying to shine a huge light on this problem. And we may roll out at Funnel Hacking Live.
Matt: Can I ask you a question, spiritually, when you start getting involved in this, you were talking and sharing with us a little bit yesterday which is some spiritual wisdom because I always say new levels, new devils, but that's a territory that as you know, I mean, when you start getting in that, that's like Satan's number one playground. To me, that's like the whole reason we're going through what we're going through right now is because of the fight over the purity of our children in the future. So, what have you seen Tim go through? Or whoever involved? I know you've had some stories too, man. What are some things that you've seen? And then what's your advice to people that get involved or want to get involved? Maybe tell a few stories.
Russell: I'm trying to think what would be the right ones. It's weird, like a lot of people who've gotten involved in the organization, they get involved, I think, initially for pure reasons. And then things happen. Like initially they actually filmed the whole documentary and documentary series before we started working with them. And the people capture all this footage and then they went insane. It's like just crazy. They wouldn't give the footage, or wanted money, all these things. It was just like when we went to Tim, like the biggest thing is Nick Nanton was like, "There's no money in this for me at all. This is at cost. This is pro bono. This is everything. You own the rights, you can do whatever you want with it."
We're the same way. We came in like, "We're doing this. I want to make sure there's no way that I could ever make money off of this. I don't want any..." And I think it's like... I don't know, people go into these things like looking for how can we make money on this? And it's just crazy. It's insane. I can't fathom it, but it's just crazy.
And since I've been around them, I've seen it happen four or five times, people come in, somebody will have good intentions, they come and do something and then they're like... It's just crazy. I can't even fathom it. And then it's funny because I've watched him, he's been so protective of funds. He looks like he's the guardian of the money that people come in. This is a sacred stewardship for him.
And so much like, their family literally lives in poverty. We chipped in and helped buy them a van because they brought home two Haitian kids they adopted and they needed a bigger car. And like he writes books to be able to fund things. He gets $0 salary from OUR. He also became the head of The Nazareen Fund for Glenn Beck. He's the CEO of The Nazareen Fund. So he's running these huge charities, huge organizations, gets $0 salary, but he writes these books so his family could eat. He does these different things.
And so you got people coming in like, "Oh, he's just doing this to sell his books, all these things." He's just like-
Matt: God bless him, man.
Russell: "Literally I'm trying to feed my family and I'm working for free saving thousands of kids." And just like crazy-
Matt: Going places nobody else will go.
Russell: And so you see people attacking him. In Utah it's on the news. Like, "Oh..." It's just insane to me. And so it's like the more pure, the more good you're trying to do, it's like swimming upstream. And so it's just like, "Man, we need more of us. People like us who love, who understand, who care, who are on the same mission to help support and help push. Because I can't imagine swimming that stream by myself." You know what I mean?
Male: It's easier not to get involved.
Matt: Yeah, exactly.
Male: It's easier to stay out of it and keep... Because once you get dug into that... Oh, just thinking about it just makes me sick.
Female: How do you get involved?
Male: Oh, there's so many ways and we'll talk about it after, but there's just... With Tim, here's what's crazy is, we've worked with OUR and the things that we did out here, and it's crazy how I heard stories about Tim that people would make up stories about how he's this person and he's involved in this and he's in... And you're like, "How sick." I mean, you're talking about satanic, like where people take somebody doing something so beautiful and you start hearing this person's involved in this. And somebody says something about me. And then I got one of the most powerful people in Arizona making a comment about me. And you're just like, "This is..." You're doing good, this guy's doing good. He sacrificed, he's put himself in harm's way. And it's disgusting.
I was once asked by a reporter, they said... They tried to make me out to be conspiracy theorist about child sex trafficking. Of course it was never anything good. And they go, "Do you think anybody higher ups involved?" And I said, "Really? If you and I don't pay our taxes, do they send us a letter or they show up at our door, IRS?" Yeah. I said, "How does $150 billion industry go untaxed?" And he was just like, "Okay." And he changed the whole topic. The reporter didn't want to report on that.
And then, they attack, they attack, they attacked. And from our rallies that we did last year, along with OUR, worked hand in hand with them, love, amazing. I had one of the guys from the Dream Center, one of the largest rehab centers come up to me just the other week. I met him at an event and he said, “Adel, I know who you are." And I was like, "Really?" He's like, "Yeah," he's like, "you have no idea just from doing what you guys did the amount of money that was donated to our center." I said, "Really? Because they were writing how bad we were for raising awareness about child sex trafficking." He said, "Man, we could have spent millions of dollars on marketing and withdrawn so much money." He's like, "I have to take you out." I said, "I don't want you to take me out." I said, "Thank God." I said, "You just made my night, man. That was the best thing I've ever heard that just..." And he was like, "No, you have no idea. I seriously can't even tell you how much money it brought in." He's like, Mommas Miracle Movement, started emailing all those people," I was like, "Yeah." He's like, "They changed everything."
So, my point being is, it's easier not to get involved with child sex trafficking because you get in there and you start... One day before a rally, one of my family members got exploited on social media and it's crazy because it had never happened. And as you're doing a rally, thousands of people showing up raising money, doing this and that, next thing, you know what happens, it's somebody in my family. And I get a message...
Matt: Yeah, he packs the rallies here, y'all. You need to go to one of his rallies, they're powerful, if you've ever been…
Male: That's just evil. But I don't want to take away from what you're saying… But, God bless you, man, for fighting with them and doing everything. Because that's what we're doing, God's work at the end of the day and that's all you're going to do.
Matt: Yeah. And it's exciting to see other people involved, young men out there. So what grabbed your heart on it? What was the initial like, "I'm going to do something. I'm not just going to stand back"?
Russell: I didn't know about it. We were wanting to get involved, it kind of explained a little bit. And so, that night I remember going online and reading about it and watching some videos and stuff. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea that any of this was happening." And how can you not after you... I remember that night I was vlogging, I said to someone, I was like, "I'm pretty sure this is going to change the direction of my life forever."
Matt: Did you feel that?
Russell: Yeah. It was just like, "How can you not?" If your kid was taken, what would you do? I can't imagine that. When someone says something mean to my kids, I'm ready to go blow up the school, you know what I mean?
Matt: Do you think it's going to come to a point... I agree. Do you think it's going to come to... The world has to shut down until we find these kids. In other words-
Russell: Christ has to come again.
Matt: Yeah.
Russell: I mean, honestly.
Matt: Yeah.
Russell: Until he comes again, it's… do our best until... Anyway.
Matt: But I'm talking in my life, where I'm talking about nothing about shutting, I'm talking about, where we all say... You know how if a child comes up missing everybody in the community will come together to where we say, "Okay, for the next 30 days, every veteran, every person that believes in children and our future, we're going to use every ounce of energy and focus to find these children because there's got to be a way. There's got to be a way, isn't there? Or are they just locked up? Is it just too hard?"
Russell: I don't know. The most of it, it's tough because they don't... That was my big fear initially when I got involved with Tim. I was just like, "If somebody had stole my kid..." And he's like, "That's not how it works." He's like, "It happens sometimes." Because the traffickers don't want to pick a high profile person with a bunch of monies and they can search you and take you out. He's like, "The kids they exploit, because they take the ones that don't have parents, the parents don't have money. They don't have the resources. They can take them, there's not implications, because they just want to sell the kid. They make the money selling their product." So it's like they're not looking for... The people they go after, people that don't have a voice, they can't fight back.
It's like that's where a lot of that stuff's happening. And it's the Americans who are flying to different places, different countries to where they can... Yeah, that's what's messed up. The Americans are the ones who are the-
Matt: Do you think you'll ever go on a mission or-
Russell: ... We're planning on going... I was supposed to go on one this year with them and then COVID hit and I've been nervous. Because that's the thing is like, you watched it on film and it's horrible. I can't imagine seeing the kids. I don't know. But at the same time, you'll get the work of the Village Impact. We donated money to Village Impact and then when I went there and experienced it, it changed me, man. It became part of me, you know what I mean? So part of me wants to do that because I feel like for me to be able to help next level, it has to… Yeah, you have to sit in the pain to be able to figure out a solution, as hard as that is. So I think I will, at some point.
Matt: Did you feel the... Speaking of the Atlas, that's probably one of the things where Atlas, I felt that.
Male: Yeah, I know I did.
Matt: Yeah. And you, I mean, and I just wondered, like you said, you feel like you could do so much, and then you look at... You ever meet Jaco Booyens?
Russell: Mm-mm (negative).
Matt: Do you know who he is? He was on the White House Sex Trafficking Council. His sister was rescued. I think he rescued her after 26 years or something-
Russell: Oh, wow.
Matt: ... Something crazy, great guy. But he's been fighting for a long time. I remember when we first got into it, he was just like, "Man, you can literally want to do everything," but he's like, "you just have to focus on some part because there's so much to this." And I don't know, did you feel that too, as being involved? Because you feel like you're so powerful in a lot of things you can do when you talk about inspiring entrepreneurs, but how does it feel despite what do you-
Russell: There's something like, whatever, two million children are done, it's like I think I said... When I met OUR they helped 1,000 kids. Now you have like four or 5,000-
Matt: Think about that. 1,000 kids.
Russell: ... And it's amazing being like two million.
Matt: 1,000. So, there's still two million you're saying.
Male: I really love how you're so open about your faith and it's really something that's evident in everything you do. So I just wanted to ask where that really comes from, in your life?
Russell: A couple of things. One, yeah, I honestly believe it's true. So, that's important. Number two, I feel like if I don't acknowledge His hand in what's happening, like... And as a father now it's weird but I think one of the reasons why God has us be parents is because we get a little glimpse of ourselves. Like I look at my kids, I can give them everything in the world and like made, and all of something that I do it means the world. If I don't, it's just like, it hurts. And it's like, I feel like if I don't acknowledge the gifts, like, I don't think you have your gifts. You know what I mean? I'm a big believer that... I think all of us as we, especially in this entrepreneur world, but in all parts of life, it's like I'm looking for the next step and the ideas and things like that.
And it's not something I'm remembering, it's like things are being handed. So it's like, where's that coming from? It's not my own. I never read a book that said this was the path, but it's showing up. Like the answer's there. It's coming from God. And I feel like God gives us ideas. And then we're either a good steward of those ideas or we’re bad. Like we take it and we do something with it, then he gives us more. And if we do something again, like it keeps moving forward. And it's just like, I feel like if we don't acknowledge Him, if we're not grateful for those things... I don't want those ideas to stop because then I'm troubled and I can't do my mission. Right?
Male: Yeah.
Russell: And it’s the mission he gave me, right? Tthat's a big part of it.
Number two, I think that, for me, I think more people want to talk about it and they're scared of it. And I think when I do it, then I think more people feel empowered to do it. And then that's great because I think people should be, we all should be doing that. And there's so much negative talk and people talking about every horrible thing out in the world and no one's talking about God. Like that's messed up.
Matt: Yeah, God is the coolest conversation.
Russell: Yeah, so if I give other people permission to do it, because I have that effect of like, "Man, I can't believe you did that." Like, "I'm going to say something." Like, "Good. That's awesome. Let me be the bad guy if that's what it takes. I'm okay with that." So those are some of the things. And I don't know, I think it's interesting because like anything I do, I post anything related. There's always some people like literally messages, like, if you post about God, that's a hard out or something. I'm like, "Whatever. All right."
But the majority is people like, "Thank you." Even if they're like, "I don't have the same beliefs as you, but thanks for... It's cool that you want to share it." It's rarely been negative. It's been really positive. So the more I do it, the more the positive comes from it. I'm like, "Okay, this is not a bad thing."
And the same thing, I'm a big believer in this. So Christ in, I think the book of John said, "The mighty sheep will hear my voice. And they will follow me." And I think that's true for in all our businesses. For me, my sheep will hear my voice and they follow me. Your sheep will hear, it's okay. So, if I'm going to speak and someone's offended by me, doesn't listen, that's okay. They don't have to follow me, they're my sheep, right? Maybe they like Grant Cardone, go for it. If that's your flavor, go for it. I'm not called to serve you. I'm called to serve these people.
And so if I'm not willing to talk about the things that are important to me, then my people aren't going to hear me. And so I think it's an eternal principle that Christ taught. And he had tons of people, they crucified him, they didn't love him. But he still shared the things that his sheep heard him. And they came to him and they followed him. And like all of us, we've each been called to serve a group of people. So it's like for those people, be you and your sheep will hear your voice and they'll come to you. And own it. So anyway, that's my beliefs.
Male: Thank you.
Matt: We're all World Changers. We want to do something big. What is one question or one thing that we need to know that we didn't ask, that you feel like you guys missed the ball? This is a good question. What do we not know that we don't know? Just the whole thing.
Russell: Let me talk about the car on the way here. Like it's probably because I’m geeking out on this book right now, it's like my favorite book. But if you read Outwitting the Devil, it's like literally one of the greatest books of all time. Yesterday we talked about backstory of it. Do you guys know Napoleon Hill? Think and Grow Rich?
Male: Oh, yeah.
Russell: Think and Grow Rich. In 1929,1930,he wrote this book called Outwitting the Devil. And it's a book where you literally... Well, literally in the book, he has this conversation with the devil asking him like, "How do you get people..." He calls them... "To become drifters? To fall away, to not have success? Like, what are you doing?" And it's like, he's got Satan, he's got the devil where he's like interviewing him like in a courtroom. And the devil has to answer every question he has. So he's asking these questions, like, "How do you do it? What's it look like?" And it's one of the most fascinating conversation of all time.
Matt: It is.
Russell: It's amazing. So it's crazy because he asked these questions and Satan's like... The devil literally says, "It's like 98% of the children, man, I control." He calls them drifters. He says, "Get people to drift. And after they drift, I control them, I own them." There's only 2% of people aren't drifters. He calls these people, people who have... I'm doodling in my new book. Yes, a definitive purpose. Perfect.
He talks about Think and Grow Rich as well. But in this it goes deeper. So only 2% of the world has definitive purpose. They have a purpose moving forward is the plan. And the book's amazing because it's talking about... Like here's all this, right. And you've got two options, and it's fear and respect. So fear is what he uses to get us to become drifters. Like I'm afraid of being poor, being unhealthy, all these things. Six fears he uses to get somebody to shift and to become a drifter. And 98% of people are drifters, and 2% of people who have... Say it again?
Male: A definitive purpose.
Russell: And it's really important. And that's faith. So he talks about in every situation you can take fear or faith. And fear makes us the drifter. Faith makes us definitive purpose. So it's like that's the thing. And so it's fear and faith. And so every situation, think about just like... Not to get political or social, what's this... COVID, what's happened. Everyone comes, it's like fear or faith. Like that's the option everyone has. And if they take fear, what happens? But it's in all aspects. In marriage, in a relationship, in business, fear and faith is the thing. And every time you take fear, you become a drifter. And you take faith you're moving forward with definitive purpose, you have a success. And it's crazy because he talks about all the things he does to get people to shift into drifting and how to keep them there.
And then the point he'll ask him, he's like, "Well, if someone is definitive purpose, are they free from your control?" The devil, he says, "No." He's like, "As soon as they're definitive purpose, they've got all sorts of tools to get them to become drifters." And one of these examples is, for example, they make a bunch of money that they're following their path. And then I get them to go start eating more. They're successful. They eat more and they gain more weight. They start getting unhealthy, losing their desire and they shift and become drifters. And I own them then.
Or they have too much money. Or they get into sex or drugs or all these sort of things. And all the things he uses to get people who have definitive purpose to become drifters again.
Male: Wow.
Russell: And so, for me, I've been reading that. I read the book three or four times in the last couple of months. And I made diagram, all the things. What are all the things that he uses to make people become drifters? What are the things that I need to do to move to definitive purpose and what are all the temptations he uses? Because he go through all of that in the book. It's insane. And so, for me, it's like, "Okay, how do we get ourselves to the spot where, in every decision that we encounter, we move to faith and not fear?Because that's the thing. And it's-
Female: Staying present.
Russell: ... It's cool. Yeah.
Matt: It's what?
Female: It's staying present, in the moment, like realizing what you're thinking and then you have a choice.
Russell: Yeah. Because most people, the default's fear.
Female: Because you're in that path to the future.
Russell: Yeah.
Female: Anyway.
Russell: It was like… how do we get our minds to the spot where we consciously choose moving forward to faith and not fear in all things? And how do we protect ourselves so that when we are and have definitive purpose of moving forward, trying to become World Changers, we're trying to do these things, we don't slip back over? As soon as you get some success... Someone came with this at dinnertime... Just like I've been doing this now 18, 19 years. And the amount of people in those years that have had successes and crashes, back and forth. Like there's not many people that have been doing this as long as me, because most of them, they have that success and then become drifters. It's insane. I can tell you hundreds and hundreds of people who I've seen on this road who are making insane amounts of money, very successful and then they're gone. Where are they at?
Male: They're broke, or where did they go?
Russell: Not here.
Female: So Russell, it's your character, is that what you're saying?
Russell: What's that?
Female: Like your character that keeps you like that?
Russell: Yeah, character and just consistently like not shifting to... Like understanding, like how do you not shift? How do you not quit? How does someone have a business making millions of dollars a year and then they're broke? You had all the skills, you had all the things. What are the things that he's doing with it that are keeping us from that? I think most time we're not aware of it. And that book was the best thing I've ever read. It keeps you aware of it. These are the things he's doing.
Male: Wow.
Female: What turns you off?
Matt: Yeah, what turns you off, Russell Brunson?
Russell: People that just want to make money. We used to do this, smaller events in a room. I would look in five minutes who would be successful and who wouldn’t. Like the questions they're asking. Like they're trying to make money, they rarely made money. They're there because like, "Hey I've got this cool product, here I am." I believe in this thing, it was like huge factors. You get the random ones who still make money and they do make money. But for the most part yeah, it's just, I don't know. I feel like it's such a gift. Like the entrepreneur personality type we have, it's like such a gift that can be used for good or for evil by so many... I don't know, so many people use it stupidly. They use it selfishly.
Matt: Yeah, so was that amazing?
Group: Wow.
Matt: There's a lot of people that would love to spend this much time with Russell Brunson in this kind of an intimate setting. Just thank you, seriously, for all you poured out.
Russell: You told me this was going to be the best podcast interview I ever did and it's made my day.
Matt: You think so?
Russell: You promised me that…
Male: For an introvert this must have took a lot of energy.
Matt: Okay, real quick, for those that maybe who were watching, real quick, describe just some... Next few minutes before we leave, like your experience in the streets of the homeless visits and what it was like for your boys to get to be around Caleb and all that? And just what was that like for you?
Russell: Yeah, for those who know, we brought my twins who I love them, but man, they've been... Having teenagers has been like the challenge of my life so far. It's so much harder than business and so I try to figure this puzzle. In fact, I don't know... I haven't told you this yet. So have you guys read Shoe Dog?
Group: Yeah.
Russell: So yeah, by-
Group: Phil Knight.
Russell: ... Yeah. In the book, one of his sons hates him. You know what it's like. You talk about headaches. He refused to wear Nike shoes, he only wore Reeboks, all sorts of stuff. And then later, at 32, I think, died in a scuba diving accident. And at the end of the book, he finishes his life story. And he talks about the only regret he ever had in life was that he never figured out the puzzle of his son.
Matt: Wow.
Russell: And when I read that it hit me like, Dallin specificly. It's just like I had this kid, I love him. Like I remember praying and like everything I went through to be able to get him here and then all the years growing up in his spot now where I can't figure him out. I love him and I care about him. I want him to... And just like everything I had tried seems like it pushes it the opposite way and like trying to figure out this puzzle. And so for me, one, super grateful just because I saw Dallin light up so much around you, Caleb, you have no idea how much, internally, I am grateful to you for that. Seeing Bowen, my son who's traditionally more awkward and nervous and seeing him light up and trying to hypnotize people. He told me, he's like, "I think that I'm literally a better person because of this trip and it's all your fault. Anyway, so it was just special because like of all the... Like I say this almost every time I speak, no success can compensate for failure at home. And there's times where I'm like, "I'm failing in my home. I don't want to do. I can't figure out this puzzle." Like I've tried.
Matt: Wow.
Russell: I've gone through every parent report, everything. And I'm just like this just perplexed to the point where I just want to go hide in the office because I'm like, "This is so easy to do this." And anyway, I feel like just the last two days for me has been like... I feel like you're looking over my shoulder and helping me move the puzzle pieces around... Hey, I feel like there's hope again. I'm grateful for that.
I think for them, it's really cool for them to see. I thought their experience was going to be more like, "Oh my gosh, we're homeless." But it was different than I thought, in a good way.
Matt: Yeah.
Russell: Like before I was like, after first night, I'm kind of walking away and saying, "How's this been for you?" Thinking he was going to be like, "Oh, it's freaky." He was like, "It's so cool that I want to give everyone here a hug." And I was like, "Oh, my gosh." I thought it was going to be so scary, like intense, whatever. But it was the opposite. And Dallin's a little more quiet about it. But you can see him... It was special. So yeah, that was that from the kid's side.
And from my personal side, it was just... I think the last time I experienced something like this was on the mission 20 years ago when I was in Jersey knocking doors and spent time in Camden and some of these areas that were similar to this and it was just... And I haven't done that for-
Matt: Brought back something.
Russell: ... Yeah. And we used to knock on doors and go talk to people and spend... Bringing Jesus to drunk people, all the time, like so much fun. And that was the closest to experience that again. It was just I forgot how much I love that part. And I'm hoping for Dallin, because I don't want Dallin and Bowen someday going on missions and they'd be so scared of it. I was like, I wanted to explain, that's what we did for two years. Like it was that kind of stuff. And talking about God with people and like trying to share your beliefs. And it was just... Anyway, so it was kind of like deja vu, one of my happiest times of my life again, which was special. Anyway.
Matt: Yeah, thank you for that. Guys, I'll say this real quick. I tell you I've met all the social media influence, all of it. This is the most real one out there, study him. I told Caleb, I was like, "Listen, you study Russell, no alternative, do what Russell says. It's not a joke. Study this man right here, because he's been..." The Bible talks about, "There is a man sent from God." He's sent from God for this generation. And you guys getting to be here is very special. So cherish this and thank you, man. You've changed my life as a dad, as a man. I'll never be the same, just these last two days with you, man. Just your example, just the way you let your light shine, just your wisdom, the way you carry yourself, your humility, your kindness. Just, you're such an inspiration to see. It's refreshing to see.
And that's something I've always cherished as a dad because I don't like a lot of the fake that I see in the chase of success and the illusion of, everybody wants to be the next Gary V or whatever that is. You know what I mean? He's like, "Why would you want to do it?" But it's like, to me, you've been like the lighthouse in the ocean. You've been like that safe place that I could grab my son. That's why I got into funnel hacking life because it was like, "Yes, this is the one event that's pure. It's real. It's fresh. And the leader of it's real."
And even like you come in here, dude, and going to the homeless with us, man, didn't he? I mean, this guy's... Dude, your time alone, there's no telling what an hour is worth to you. So all the time that you invested, thank you so much, man. Seriously. You guys agree with that?
Group: Yeah.
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