I believe heavily in models, patterns, formulas, and systems. However, there's one thing that will always trump a model…   I’m NOT a very creative person.   When I first started in this game, one of my BIGGEST challenges was finding a prolific idea that would generate income.   Have you ever struggled to produce an idea that makes money? I totally did.    I carried around a little black book to jot things down in…   My lack of creativity seemed to be sabotaging me. I didn’t know how to create stuff.    People would ask, “Stephen, what idea do you have?” And I'd be like, “Crap, I don't have any ideas. I just don't.”   … they'd look at me all confused, “...but, Stephen, you're doing all this stuff?”    *THE PLOT TWIST*   One of the reasons that I struggled with ideas was because I kept trying to come up with something that was completely fresh.    The Truth is…   Very few people on this planet know how to do that…   And here’s the Good News...   You don’t need to be a creative genius with a head jam-packed with originality to succeed in this game!   I’m probably gonna say somethings that’ll surprise you - especially if you’ve been following me for any length of time...    But I haven't been able to put this into words until now.    PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS   I think the BIGGEST thing that can cripple you is when you start comparing yourself to entrepreneurs that have already been playing the game for a while.   When I first started working at ClickFunnels, I’d compare myself negatively to Russell and some of the Inner Circle Members, and that was a dangerous, stupid road to go down.   A lot of them had already…   Practiced Building Systems. Built Marketing. Created structures that let them move more freely. They had leverage.   They could do things without following as many models… which meant they could do things that a new entrepreneur can't.   … and that was one of the things I had to get over.   What was interesting was that I started looking at what they were doing in a different light…   “I SEE PATTERNS”   I'm an observant guy; it's one of my unique abilities... and one of the reasons why I can do what I do.    So I was sitting observing all this stuff, and I started seeing a pattern.   Let me share it with you…   It doesn’t matter whether it’s…   Offers Funnels Sales messages Whatever…   When you start out, you follow the yellow brick road. You follow the path that's already been paved, but eventually, the road stops. So the question is, how do you behave when there are no more bricks?   I’m guessing that you’ve probably heard me talking about the importance of following models and frameworks, and that’s still 100% true.   However, I started asking myself questions like:   When do you stop following models and frameworks? All the hack... when does that end?    … because if we were only able to hack, nothing NEW would ever be created.   Do you know what I'm saying?    So when the yellow bricks are done, it's your turn, as a marketer, to take the path one step further and build something different to what's already been done.   ENTER THE CRAZY ZONE   Let me tell you a story…   Back in the day, I’d sit next to Russell, and suddenly he would have an idea... which meant he'd go like this, “Uuuuuh!!!!”   And we all knew that meant, ‘get up and run.’    So we'd sprint barefoot over to the whiteboard, and Russell would start having these premonitions, kinda these visions...   “Oh my gosh! What if we did this? We could do this, this, and... Oh, my gosh! What if we do this?”    He'd start drawing them out… and we'd start coming up with offers.   (We'd usually brainstorm an offer or a funnel first.)    CREATING THE FUNNEL HACKER COOKBOOK   This is exactly what happened with the The Funnel Hacker Cookbook.   I helped write a good chunk of the book - especially the last bit which is specifically about what funnels to use in different industries.    That was my assignment; it took me FOREVER!    I went through all the