And that’s harder than it sounds. Through some mix of nature and nurture, a lot of us are wired to believe that failure is dangerous. Not just uncomfortable — dangerous. Like it could actually kill us on some level. We imagine being laughed at. Rejected. Ridiculed. We tell ourselves that if we fail publicly, people won’t help us later. That we’ll lose credibility. That we’ll be marked. But that’s not how it actually works. Here’s the truth most people don’t realize until they see it firsthand: When you put something out there, people respect you. When you take a stand, people appreciate it. Responsibility might be the most scarce resource we have right now. Everyone wants outcomes. Very few people want ownership. And when you’re willing to step forward — even imperfectly — it changes how people see you. Failing in public doesn’t create shame. Avoiding responsibility does. Taking responsibility attracts others. It signals leadership. It tells people you’re serious. Most of the fear around failure isn’t rational. It’s evolutionary. Your nervous system is trying to keep you safe by keeping you small. But meaning doesn’t live there. Meaning shows up when you find a problem you’re uniquely qualified to solve. When you name the enemy. When you take a swing. Slay the dragon. Save the town. Reap the reward. Not because it’s guaranteed to work — but because you were willing to stand up when most people wouldn’t. That’s where respect actually comes from. — James

Let me save you from shipping something that quietly signals “amateur” to anyone who lands on it. Even seasoned funnel builders miss this stuff. And it costs you trust before the offer even has a chance. Here’s the thing most people don’t realize: Funnels don’t just convert with copy and offers. They convert with signals. Tiny details that tell the prospect, “This person knows what they’re doing.” Or… “This feels slapped together.” So before you publish your next funnel, do this quick sweep. First: the favicon. If I open your funnel and see the default ClickFunnels favicon in the browser tab, I already know you didn’t finish the job. Put your logo there. It takes two minutes. And it instantly upgrades perceived legitimacy. Second: the ClickFunnels badge. Bottom right corner. Unless you’re selling marketing services, that badge hurts you. To a normal prospect, it doesn’t say “built on ClickFunnels.” It says “template.” Toggle it off before you publish. Bonus points for removing it from your emails too. Third: the social sharing image. This one gets missed all the time. Go to your funnel settings. Create a simple graphic in Canva for that specific funnel. Because when someone pastes your link into Facebook, X, or anywhere else… that image is what represents your brand. No image = no control. Wrong image = wrong impression. None of this is advanced. But it is the difference between a funnel that feels intentional and one that feels half-baked. These are dumb mistakes. But dumb mistakes are the ones that kill trust fastest. So before you obsess over headlines and buttons, make sure you didn’t ship something that rolls eyes before it ever converts. 🚀 - James I'm launching software on Thursday that actually checks for these signals and more. Head to funnelpulse.io to learn more.

It Worked… Except Where It Mattered I was talking with a peer in Inner Circle recently. They’re spending tens of thousands of dollars a month on Facebook ads. They launched a new funnel. Traffic was flowing. But sales? Nothing. At first glance, it made no sense. They loaded the funnel manually. Clicked around. Tested checkout. “It works,” they said. “Everything looks fine.” So they assumed the issue was messaging. Or the offer. Or the ads. But something still felt off. After digging deeper and doing more real testing, they finally found it. When you used the exact link from the Facebook ad.. with its specific query string.. the funnel broke. Not everywhere. Not loudly. Just enough. The checkout form wouldn’t load. But only for that version of the URL. Organic traffic? Fine. Manual tests? Fine. Paid traffic? Broken. And because nothing threw an error, they didn’t catch it right away. They burned a meaningful chunk of ad spend before realizing what was happening. That’s the scary part. The funnel worked. Just not where it mattered most. This is why testing once and moving on is dangerous. Funnels don’t fail in the obvious places. They fail in the edges. Different links. Different parameters. Different paths real users take that you never click yourself. And when you’re spending real money on traffic, those edge cases aren’t theoretical. They’re expensive. The takeaway isn’t “be paranoid.” It’s this: Test your funnels the way your users actually experience them. And don’t assume that because it worked once, it’s still working now. Because the most costly failures don’t announce themselves. They just quietly drain your budget. 🚀 - James

The part of you that said yes to a major change.. It knows something. It knows you’re capable of something different. Something more aligned. Something that stretches you beyond who you’ve been. That part doesn’t speak loudly. It doesn’t argue. It doesn’t beg. It just knows. Then you commit. And almost immediately, something else shows up. Doubt. Fear. Confusion. That tight feeling in your chest that says, “Maybe this was a mistake.” That’s not a sign you were wrong. That’s the test. Hope and faith are easy at the beginning. They’re intoxicating when the vision is fresh. What comes next is resistance. Tony Robbins talks about this a lot.. the most powerful force in the universe is the desire to stay consistent with your current identity. Even if that identity is small, frustrating, limiting.. It’s familiar. It feels safe. So when you step toward something bigger, that system pushes back. Hard. It tells you you’re not ready. That you don’t know enough. That you wasted your money. That you'll never follow through. That maybe you should quit. I know this because I’ve been through it before. And I know it because I’m going through it again right now. Building Funnel Pulse has tested me in every way. I’ve doubted myself. Frozen. Felt fear way louder than confidence. And still.. the part of me that saw the problem and felt the pull to solve it hasn’t gone quiet. That part was right. What you’re feeling isn’t failure. It’s friction. It’s the moment where growth asks if you’re serious. So if you’re here.. committed, uncomfortable, questioning yourself.. don’t rush to escape the feeling. Sit with it. Follow the path. Do the work. Take the next step even if your hands are shaking. Because the part of you that said yes didn’t do it by accident. And this moment? This is where most people turn back. Don't be like them. 🚀 - James

There’s a thing that happens to funnels over time. I’m calling it Funnel Rot. It's the subtle decay of your funnels. Nothing explodes. Nothing throws an error. No one slacks you to say, “Hey, something’s broken.” Stuff just.. degrades. A VA updates something and doesn’t realize what it touches. A CRO test removes a section on mobile and no one notices. A DNS provider changes a default. A platform has an outage. A redirect stops carrying query strings. None of this is malicious. Most of it isn’t even your fault. It’s entropy. Complex systems decay when you’re not looking. And funnels are complex systems. That’s why “it worked last month” is meaningless. The dangerous part about Funnel Rot is that everything seems fine. Traffic’s still flowing. Sales are still coming in. So no one clicks through like a normal human would. Until one day you do.. And you’re shocked by what you find. Broken buttons. Popups that don’t fire. Mobile experiences that are half-missing. Links that quietly go nowhere. This stuff sucks. But pretending it doesn’t happen is worse. The solution isn’t rebuilding your funnel every time something feels off. It’s testing. Regularly. Methodically. As a real user would. Click everything. Desktop and mobile. Opt in. Buy. Decline upsells. Cancel subscriptions. You’d be amazed what you catch. Funnels don’t stay healthy on hope. They stay healthy with attention. Funnel Rot is inevitable. Ignoring it is optional. 🚀 - James