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The Russell Brunson Show

Vanessa Van Edwards on the Hidden Science of Trust, Charisma, and Selling Without Being Salesy | #Marketing - Ep. 112

The Russell Brunson Show

Russell Brunson

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8982 Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of The Russell Brunson Show, I sat down with Vanessa Van Edwards, and I knew right away this conversation was going to hit differently. I’ve been seeing Vanessa everywhere lately, and when she told me she used funnels and webinars to build her business, my mind was blown. She’s a self-described “recovering awkward person” who turned social anxiety, human behavior research, and relentless testing into a global brand - and along the way, she quietly mastered selling without ever feeling salesy. What fascinated me most wasn’t just her success, but how she got there. Vanessa didn’t chase every platform blindly. She studied people the same way we study funnels. She learned what makes someone trust you, listen to you, and ultimately buy from you - and she applied those principles to webinars, content, books, and partnerships. This episode is a masterclass on communication, charisma, and how deeply understanding people can transform your business Key Highlights: ◼️How Vanessa went from failed book launches and quitting her business to rebuilding everything with webinars, funnels, and aggressively helpful content ◼️Why most entrepreneurs aren’t bad at marketing - they’re under-signaling warmth and competence (and how to fix that) ◼️The real reason some webinars convert for years while others flop, and how balancing credibility with likability changes everything ◼️Her unconventional growth strategy of leveraging platforms (not just social media) like Udemy, MasterClass, and email lists she didn’t own ◼️The exact cues - from voice tone to body language - that instantly increase trust when you’re on stage, on video, or on a sales call We also go deep into her books Captivate and Cues, her upcoming work on conversation, and why charisma isn’t something you’re born with - it’s something you can learn, practice, and systemize. If you’re an introverted entrepreneur, a funnel hacker who loves strategy more than small talk, or someone who knows their message is good but struggles to deliver it confidently, this episode is for you. ◼️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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Do you have a funnel, but it's not converting?

0:02.1

The problem 99.9% of the time is that your funnel is good, but you suck at selling.

0:07.1

If you want to learn how to sell so your funnels will actually convert, then get a ticket to my next

0:11.1

selling online event by going to sellingonline.com slash podcast.

0:14.7

That's sellingonline.com slash podcast.

0:18.0

This is the Russell Brunson show.

0:38.7

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the show. I'm really excited for a special guest who I've been seeing blowing up everywhere. I've seen her on like a ton of podcasts. Everywhere I go, her face is popping up. And I went to Instagram or follow her. And then the next day she messes me and she's like, hey, I actually use your stuff to build your business.

0:39.3

I'm like, what?

0:56.7

That is the coolest thing in the world. So I'm excited to introduce you to all of her, introduce all of you to her. We have a really cool conversation. We're talking about a lot of stuff. She's got a book called Cues. Her name is Vanessa Van Edwards. and she is just like you as a funnel hacker who's got her message out there and is going across the whole world.

0:57.7

It's been really fun watching. So Vanessa, Vanessa Van Edwards, and she is just like you as a funnel hacker who's got her message out there and is going across the whole world.

0:56.8

It's been really fun watching.

0:57.9

So Vanessa, first off, it's been so cool over the last like five minutes getting to know you, but thanks for coming on the show.

1:02.5

Oh, my pleasure.

1:03.9

When I saw that you liked one of my reels, there was a celebration in my house.

1:09.4

I was like Russell Br, liked my video.

1:13.2

So I just was, I just went into your DMs and was like, you have helped me so much because I'm a recovering awkward person.

1:21.7

I don't know if there are any other funnel hackers listening where we love the biz, we love the strategy, we love our product, but we don't really like people. We're scared of them. People are hard. I think it's the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is you have to work with others, you know? And also, I'm ambiverted. I don't, Russell, are you introvert or ambivert? Do yout? Do you know? I've never heard ambrovert. I've always considered someone I'm introverted for sure. What's an ambrovert? Okay, so actually 80% of people are ambiverted, which means you are not a true extrovert or true introvert. It means you can socialize and be very outgoing with the right people and the right settings, but the wrong people, the wrong settings totally shut you down, drain you. And you need a lot of recharge time. So you can like extrovert. You can people for a certain amount of time, but then you are out. Like you need to recharge. Is that you? That does sound actually more like me. I always thought it's because I I had to because like I always told people I feel like I'm an introvert and an extrovert's calling so I have to go and do things. But then yeah, afterwards I have to go back and hide and just be like, oh, give me some time, please. And by the way, I think that like that's the most, the biggest challenge is being an entrepreneur is we do like a lot of deep thinking work, a lot of strategy work. We're like in our funnels, testing subject lines. And, you know, right in like, you know, it takes me four days to build slides. And then you have to teach them, which is the next challenge. So I think a lot of us entrepreneurs are ambiverted. And I actually think that's a superpower. I think it's a strength if we learn how to leverage it.

2:52.9

Yeah, it's, I remember when I was first learning about introvert, extrovert,

2:56.3

like understanding how a lot of really successful people, even like actors or people who perform,

3:01.0

it's like they create privately by themselves, they perform publicly.

3:05.2

And it's like, that's like the, I feel like that skill set is really, really powerful versus people very extroverted. They, they figure things out on the fly, like in real time, like while they're talking about it. So they're not as good as preparing. And sometimes you can go off the rails if you're not like, if you don't have a structure to actually follow. And it's interesting to watch the dynamics between them. Yes. Also that I've noticed that there are certain folks who there's different mediums where

3:28.5

they thrive.

...

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