We held the physical event at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Kissimmee, FL. Since our event has grown so much over the years, we needed to find a place to accommodate an event space for all of our attendees!
For so long, we didn’t even know for certain if we’d be able to hold our event in a physical location, due to the ever-changing restrictions and rules. (Our goal was to have everyone under ONE roof again, but just in case we couldn’t…we even had a “Plan B” and “Plan C” in case they tightened restrictions!)
In 2021, we did things a little DIFFERENTLY, along with the rest of the world! Covid left the world in a state of uncertainty, and it felt like forever since the FHL community had been together.
But after 18 months of event/travel restrictions, FHL finally happened! Over ____+ gathered from across the globe (and the internet) to be inspired, take action, and learn from the ‘best of the best’ in entrepreneurship and marketing!
But the most memorable part of this year was experiencing the sheer JOY that our Funnel Hackers had as they CONNECTED as a community again!
Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road, and that coupled with the restrictions from Covid heightened that feeling of isolation for many people. I don’t think any of us realized quite how much we were missed and needed this CONNECTION.
It was SO powerful to watch our FHL attendees gathering once again after such a long time to learn, connect, support, and celebrate each other as entrepreneurs!
Our team was faced with a LOT of questions around planning this event.
“Will we be allowed to gather physically?”
“And if so…will people even WANT to (or be able to) travel?”
We wanted to make sure that everyone who had a ticket had the ability to see the event, no matter what might happen! So for the first time EVER, we opened up a VIRTUAL option - where ticket holders could attend and watch from the comfort of their own home!
We knew that some people lived in countries that wouldn’t allow them to travel to the U.S.
So we put a LOT of planning and special care into our VIRTUAL set-up, so that those who were attending from home could feel every ounce of energy and magic as those who were attending with us in person!
During past FHL events, we hosted several “Roundtable” events, where attendees gather around large tables to ask questions and learn from some of our most successful Funnel Hackers!
Because of the Covid restrictions, we were obviously not able to do that at this event. So we completely reinvented the entire evening with an exciting NEW twist!
Instead of 40 Roundtables, we hosted FOUR Skill-set Workshops!
These were the FOUR areas that every entrepreneur needs to develop - no matter what niche or market you’re in.
These were designed to be “bring your laptop and let’s IMPLEMENT” style workshops, where attendees left the session with getting actual work done on their business! That way, they didn’t just learn something, but they took action and accomplished something AT the event!
One of our traditions at FHL is the awards ceremony, which is like the ‘Oscars of Entrepreneurship’, where we honor different success milestones people have reached in their business. (Two Comma Club, Two Comma X, Two Comma C, etc…)
But Russell also wanted a way to recognize and celebrate marketers and entrepreneurs like us, who have built their business from the ground up, without taking on any venture capital backing.
So during the event, Russell announced that there would be a NEW award for the next year called the ‘Bootstrapped’ award!
The ‘Bootstrapped’ Award will be presented in different categories to entrepreneurs who have bootstrapped their way to success - through sheer hard work, resourcefulness, creativity, and persistence!
Todd and Russell took the stage to talk about all the important note-worthy happenings inside ClickFunnels over the last 12 months…and more importantly, the exciting path of where CF is going in the future. ClickFunnels has grown RAPIDLY since its inception…and was PRIMED for a sale. There were several companies who took interest, but when an official offer was presented, something didn’t feel right. Russell flew to Atlanta, GA to talk with Todd, and share his feelings. Little did he know that Todd felt the same way.
So they turned down the $1 Billion offer, and decided to KEEP ClickFunnels. And they made a huge announcement that a complete REBUILD of the platform is in the works - calling it ClickFunnels 2.0… They will re-engineer ClickFunnels from the ground up, with many of the amazing features that our users have been requesting!
All the FHL attendees had the opportunity to get in at the ground-level of this new endeavor, and become beta testers as aspects of CF 2.0 got rolled out over the following year!
The evening session held a double-surprise that was kept a special secret from event attendees for many months!
We announced that Marketing Secrets officially acquired Magnetic Marketing (Dan Kennedy’s company). Dan Kennedy is one of Russell’s long-time business mentors, so we were so excited to announce that Russell will be carrying on the legacy of Magnetic Marketing!
Then, after a heart-warming video talking about the backstory behind the acquisition, and getting a glimpse into how Russell looks up to him as one of his main mentors, Dan Kennedy appeared on stage with Russell…and the entire audience went crazy! He sat with Russell for a very special session where Russell got to ask him some of his most burning questions. Everyone in the audience was listening so intently to EVERY word Dan had to say!
At FHL 2020 (just before Covid struck) Tony Robbins was astonishingly prophetic in his teachings. He gave a cautious warning to our attendees, and prepared us for the fact that “Winter Is Coming…” And woah...it certainly came! This was one of his last speaking events he did before Covid struck, and FHL 2021 was one of the FIRST Tony returned to as a speaker since then. Now that we were in the middle of the ‘Economic Winter’, he talked about what to do next, and how to not just survive, but THRIVE in the economy as a business owner.