4:40:31Russell Brunson · Presentation
AI Secrets Challenge - Day 3: The One-Person Marketing Machine
A four-hour slide-driven webinar where Russell Brunson turns the marketing side of an org chart into a stack of one-person AI apps.
July 1stThe argument in one line.
Know the math behind your growth and the money can be taken but the business can be rebuilt, and well-written persuasion works as hard on a prosecutor as it does on a customer.
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
- A direct-response marketer who wants to hear how a continuity offer was scaled to 166,000 paying members with print ads before funnels existed.
- A copywriter curious how the author of The 12 Month Millionaire thinks about split tests, ad placement deals and choosing products.
- Someone weighing a book as a long-term asset who wants the case for treating it as a paper soldier that earns without you.
- A fan of founder stories with real stakes, where the business lessons arrive inside a true-crime arc.
SKIP IF…
- You want a step-by-step tactical course. Most of the run time is story; the frameworks are named but not fully taught here.
- You want the Q filter itself. It is teased as the core of the new book and its factors are never listed.
The full version, fast.
A direct marketer grew a supplement to $100 million a year on 166,000 monthly continuity members, using one split-tested paragraph and full-page magazine ads bought on credit. The state seized everything under policing-for-profit laws, so 17 days before jail he wrote The 12 Month Millionaire as a paper soldier to support his family. Gary Halbert sold it as a $300 prerequisite for a seminar. A later interview release triggered a probation raid, a swipe file was treated as evidence, and he ran for 18 years. He came back to a 116-year indictment and got it dropped with a sworn letter he ghostwrote for his lawyer. The lesson: own the formula, keep cash reserves, and persuasion is a life skill.
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Create a free account →Who's talking.
00:00hostRussell Brunson
00:53guestVincent James
Where the time goes.
00:00 – 00:53
01 · The book that sent its author on the run
Studio cold open: a $297 manuscript, a six-hour interview, a first million-dollar funnel, and the reveal that it put the author on the run.
00:53 – 02:19
02 · First time on a stage in 20 years
Vincent James walks out at Funnel Hacking Live, his first public talk in two decades, and the host explains what the book meant to him.
02:19 – 03:15
03 · 166,000 people paying monthly
From 1994 electronics and software direct marketing to a too-good-to-be-true supplement his girlfriend's hairdresser mentioned.
03:15 – 05:43
04 · The split test that changed one paragraph
A continuity paragraph turns a break-even letter into a club; customer-life math sets the 166,000 target, hit in 27 months.
05:43 – 07:30
05 · Locking competitors out of Maxim
Scaling on magazine credit from fractional to four full pages, then trading a long contract for a cap that froze out every knockoff.
07:30 – 09:45
06 · The fall: policing for profit
The state seizes everything without a conviction; he takes a plea, betting the formula can rebuild what they took.
09:45 – 11:30
07 · Writing the book 17 days before jail
Books as paper soldiers: he writes The 12 Month Millionaire, hides the pages under the sink, and serves about 94 days in tent jail.
11:30 – 12:15
08 · Free live event with Vincent
Mid-roll pitch for the free 12 Month Millionaire live event and the new Part 2 book.
12:15 – 15:15
09 · Gary Halbert turns a manuscript into a $300 product
Halbert reads the binder in Costa Rica, calls it required reading, and sells it as the prerequisite to a $3,700 seminar.
15:15 – 19:00
10 · The launch and the second arrest
A probation violation over selling his own book, then the host's interview launch triggers a raid the night it hits a million.
19:00 – 20:51
11 · The swipe file they called evidence
Investigators claim he owns every company whose ads sit in his swipe file, including a Swedish public company founded in 1913.
20:51 – 22:50
12 · Going on the run
He makes bail and disappears, loses his cat for three years, and keeps writing copy anonymously for big-name marketers.
22:50 – 29:07
13 · Coming back to a 116-year indictment
After waiting out the prosecutor, he learns of a sealed indictment over copy for a supplement that never launched.
29:07 – 31:34
14 · The sales letter that got the charges dropped
He ghostwrites a sworn statement on his lawyer's letterhead; 60 days later the attorney general's office drops the case.
31:34 – 32:55
15 · 12 Month Millionaire Part 2
What 20 more years taught him, centered on the Q filter for screening products before testing them.
32:55 – 33:26
16 · Join us live
Studio outro pitching the free one-time live event.
Lines worth screenshotting.
- One paragraph offering a monthly club turned a break-even supplement letter into a business with 166,000 members paying every month.
- Continuity growth has a ceiling you can compute: monthly new customers times average customer life in months equals your peak member count.
- With a four-month customer life, 40,000 new members a month caps out at 160,000 active subscribers, no matter how hard you push.
- A buyer calling back to confirm she was in the club was the signal that customers wanted the continuity, not resented it.
- Magazines once extended 30 to 60 days of credit to advertisers who paid on time, letting a profitable ad fund its own bigger placement.
- Running four full pages in one magazine and trading a long contract for a cap on that ad category locked every knockoff out of the channel.
- Space ads, direct mail, radio, TV and websites are the same thing with different pipes: each is just a way to take an order.
- If you know the formula, losing the money is a timing problem, not a permanent one, because the math to rebuild still lives in your head.
- A book is a paper soldier that keeps selling and supporting your family whether you are in jail, on the run or dead.
- Gary Halbert sold The 12 Month Millionaire at $300 by making it the entry ticket to a $3,700 seminar instead of a $20 paperback.
- Cash reserves are oxygen in the tank: business is fun like scuba diving until you run out of air.
- Probation violations only need a preponderance of evidence, roughly a coin flip, which is why almost everyone takes a deal.
- A copywriter's swipe file of other companies' ads was read by investigators as proof he secretly owned those companies.
- The copywriter was indicted over a supplement ad that never launched, while the client who commissioned it was never questioned.
- The strongest letter of his career was a sworn statement written in his own lawyer's voice, and it got a 116-year indictment dropped.
- He rates himself the greatest copywriter not for $116 million in sales but for writing his way out of a 116-year sentence.
- His Q filter screens product ideas against shared traits of past winners, and he will not test a product with fewer than six.
Own the formula, keep oxygen, write well
WHAT TO LEARN
Money can be seized and businesses shut down, but the growth math, the cash cushion and the ability to persuade in writing go wherever you go.
04The split test that changed one paragraph
- Test one variable at a time. A single continuity paragraph, split against the same letter without it, revealed that buyers actively wanted to join a monthly club.
- Size a subscription business before scaling it: monthly new members times average customer life in months tells you the ceiling you will plateau at.
05Locking competitors out of Maxim
- Reinvest proof into bigger placements. Pay small ads on time, earn media credit, and step up to larger units only after the smaller one works.
- When you dominate a channel, negotiate structure, not just price. A cap on competing ads protects the position longer than any discount would.
07Writing the book 17 days before jail
- Assets that do not depend on your presence, like a book, keep supporting the people who rely on you when everything else stops.
09Gary Halbert turns a manuscript into a $300 product
- Frame a product's price by what it unlocks. A manuscript worth $20 as a paperback sold at $300 as the gateway to a $3,700 seminar.
10The launch and the second arrest
- Keep enough cash to ride out a year with zero income, so a crisis never forces you into a bad decision under pressure.
11The swipe file they called evidence
- Anything on your computer can be read without context. A swipe file of reference ads was presented as proof of owning other companies.
14The sales letter that got the charges dropped
- Persuasive writing is a general skill, not just a sales tool: a sworn statement written with empathy for the reader got a 116-year indictment dropped.
1512 Month Millionaire Part 2
- Screen ideas before you spend on testing them by checking how many traits they share with past winners, and skip the ones that fall short.
Terms worth knowing.
- Continuity program
- A recurring subscription where the customer is billed automatically every month, often a product club or supply refill, until they cancel.
- Customer life
- How many months the average subscriber stays before cancelling. Multiplied by monthly new sign-ups, it sets the maximum active member count.
- Split test
- Sending two versions of an ad or letter that differ in one element to comparable audiences, then comparing results to see which version wins.
- Space ad
- A paid advertisement bought by the amount of page space it takes in a magazine or newspaper, such as a third-page or full-page ad.
- Swipe file
- A collection of other companies' ads and sales letters that a copywriter saves for reference and inspiration.
- Policing for profit
- A critique of civil asset forfeiture, where authorities can seize property suspected of being tied to a crime without first convicting the owner.
- Preponderance of evidence
- A legal standard met when a claim is more likely true than not, a much lower bar than proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Bench warrant
- A court order to arrest someone who failed to appear or broke court terms. Police usually serve it only if they encounter the person.
- Funnel Hacking Live
- An annual ClickFunnels conference for online marketers where this interview was recorded on the main stage.
- Two Comma Club
- A ClickFunnels award for funnels that have generated more than one million dollars in sales.
Things they pointed at.
00:00bookThe 12 Month Millionaire
13:04productGary Halbert newsletter
14:19productFusion seminar (Gary Halbert and Mark Joyner)
31:11bookThe 12 Month Millionaire Part 2
Lines you could clip.
00:32
“Imagine spending 18 years on the run for a crime you didn't commit, and the thing that got you caught was a book you wrote.”
05:01
“I say it's same crap, different pipes.”
09:03
“If you know the formula, the problem is never a problem.”
10:20
“I call them paper soldiers, because no matter what happens to me, I could be dead, the book's still there being a soldier.”
16:40
“Life is like scuba diving. Your cash reserves is like oxygen in the tank. Scuba diving is fun until you run out of oxygen.”
20:50
“I gave up my freedom in the United States of America to be free in the United State of Vince.”
31:11
“I don't consider myself the greatest copywriter because I made $116 million selling a product. I may consider myself the world's greatest copywriter because I got myself out of a 116-year life sentence.”
Where the conversation goes.
02:19 – 07:30denseBuilding a continuity empire with print ads
07:30 – 11:30denseSeizure, plea and writing the book
12:15 – 15:15steadyHow the book became a $300 product
15:15 – 22:50steadyArrests, evidence and the run
22:50 – 31:34denseThe indictment and the letter
31:34 – 32:55sparseThe new book and the Q filter
Word for word.
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metaphoranalogystory
20 years ago, I bought a copy of this book for $297. When I got it, I sat down and I read through it twice.
It was that good. Then I actually contacted the author on the phone and he allowed me to interview him and I interviewed him for six full hours. Two years later, when I took that interview and I launched it as a product, it became the first product that I ever sold that did over a million dollars in my very first two comic club funnel.
And what's crazy that I didn't know is that interview actually sent him on the run from the cops. Imagine spending 18 years on the run for a crime you didn't commit. and the thing that got you caught was a book you wrote.
That's my story. My name is Vincent James, and by the time I was 28 years old, I was earning more than the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Nike, and McDonald's combined. Now, what's crazy is a year ago, he re -contacted me.
I found out where he'd been and what he'd been doing behind the scenes, and, well, the rest of the story happened at Funnel Hacking Live. For the first time ever, on any stage in the world, is my friend Vincent James. Put our hands together for Vince James!
How you feeling, man? First time you've ever done this on stage. Oh my god, yeah, this is not that bad.
As you know, 20 years ago, you wrote this book that dramatically changed the direction of my life, our business, my understanding. I've been quoting this and talking about it to our community, our people for so long. And the fact that you have a chance to be here on stage is like a dream come true for me.
It's really exciting. And I know for you, it's the first time you've been publicly in front of people talking about this. Well, yeah, this is the first time I've been in front of people.
in like 20 years and this is like the most people that i've ever spoke to at one time is backstage so it's like i'm like warming up with like 12 people and i'm like oh it's so awesome i would love for you to kind of to start off When I got this book and I started reading initially, one of the intro sections of my favorites, we talked about what it's like when one of these things blows up.
You talked about how much money in the cars, everything. But one of the things that was fascinating to me is that at the peak, you had 160 ,000 people on a monthly continuity program. 166 ,000.
I love to hear just about that business, how you grew it, how you got 166 ,000 people paying you monthly for something. Yeah, well, I was in direct marketing, direct consumer since 1994. All different types of electronics business, computer businesses, software businesses.
And, you know, the businesses would do eight, nine. And I read about these guys that would be doing like Blue Block or something. And they're doing like 50, 60, 75 million.
I said, I don't know if that's, I don't know if that's, could that really happen? And then. i had a girlfriend at one time and she said that my hairdresser's talking about this pill that you know and it had a claim that was you know too good to be true and for as a marketer someone says too good to be true i'm like oh i'm interested in that because that's i want to sell that yeah exactly and it takes a close second to like is that even legal you know so so i looked into it and uh and it it it worked well enough to sell let's just you know so uh so i started selling it and we had about two Well, actually, we sold it without a continuity at first, and we only could get it to break even.
And I added a paragraph to it that I worded a special way, and I said, let's do a split test. Do the letter that broke even and the letter with the continuity paragraph, and everything else be the same. So we mailed the letters, and the first one came in for the continuity.
The girl didn't mention the continuity program at all. And I said, okay, that's cool. And then she called back like two minutes later.
And I heard the girl, the test call, talking about the continuity. I said, oh, I knew they weren't going to let me build their credit cards automatically every month. But she got off the phone and I said, what was that about?
And she goes, she was calling back to make sure that she was in the club. So I said, okay, we might be able to do something here. So I said, I wanted to have like a company that did like $100 million a year.
And I said, if I had... Four -month customer life that would be 166 ,000 on continuity. I need 40 ,000 to come in a month so I could reach my growth ceiling at 160 ,000 and 27 months later we had 166 ,000 on continuity.
We're doing eight point something million a month and I was like, oh I guess I guess I guess I can make one of those blue bloggers In fact, it's funny because This is like pre -internet a lot of stuff. You were doing these things through magazines, direct mail.
Talk about some of how you marketed those things. Yeah, I mean, most people had websites back then that were more like a catalog -style website. And I'm from the days of direct marketing where a sales letter or a magazine advertisement sold one product only.
So I said, I'm going to make a website that sells one product only. And at that time, it was like, that was not something that people were doing. It was usually like, oh, we have 50 million.
So it's like... The single product website was not a common thing. The beginning of a funnel.
Yeah, basically, right? Yeah. So I just viewed like the website as another order taking method.
You know, I have like a thing, it's like space ads, direct mail, radio, television. I say it's . You know, it's just.
I recently reread this. I was like, I want to go back in time and like remember, again, I was a 22, 23 year old kid reading this the first time and it was just like so magical and exciting. Like I couldn't stop.
It's probably the first time I've ever been like sucked into a book that way. And like just as you were going through what you're doing and how you're doing stuff. And I remember talking about the magazines.
Like I remember you just started a small magazine that got bigger. We talked about that process because eventually you're running huge ads and Maxim and all these big magazines. Yeah, well, you know, magazines are beautiful back then because if you ran a smaller fractional advertisement and you paid your bill once or twice, they'd give you, extend you 30 days credit, 60 days credit.
And then you could be like, oh. my one -third page works, let's go for a full page. Then when the full page works, you say, hey, let's go to a three -page.
So I scaled that company. We didn't have any investors or anything. It was just we built it off the magazines back pretty much.
Eventually, yeah, we got into Maxim, and Maxim was like $50 ,000 for a page. Well, it was like $100 ,000 a page, but I know how to negotiate them down. So they're like, well, we'll run it once, and if we don't get any complaints from any of our other advertisers or anything.
You know, we'll continue to run the ad so they never got a complaint and we ended up running for full page ads in there We're the largest advertiser in there and then I noticed like some like knockoffs would try to get in and I had four page ads so these guys would like highlight like 25 % of my ad and actually make like a full page ad that actually sounded halfway decent because it was it was it was my my stuff just shrunken down so I Would be like hey maxim, you know, we'll extend this car contract for like 12 24 36 How many ever months you want as long as you don't let anybody else in?
And they said okay Well, we can't give you like an exclusive but if we only allow four pages for this type of ad And as long as you continue to run your four pages, we won't let anybody else in and i'm like bet so We locked everybody out. So all those guys could knock off that product all they wanted but have fun advertising it I had like the you know the lock on that they had they were they had to do spam Everybody who got spam for that product for like the last 20 years.
I'm sorry, but It originated from from from here unfortunately now with this business obviously it's cool and you guys have chance to read the book he talks about the rise of this business but then in the middle of book you start talking about the fall of this business and it You know, you alluded a little bit to it in the video earlier, but talk about just what happened to that business and some of the things you learned.
Yeah, well, you know, there's a thousand people selling that product. That product is still for sale today on Amazon. Like, there's like a product like Kong XXL or something on Amazon.
I don't even mean to advertise them, but, you know, Jeff Bezos makes more money off these pills than I do these days. So, you know, so the product wasn't illegal. It was just, you know, I mean, obviously I hyped it.
I'm fully, you know, 26 years old at the time. I'm 52 now, so. You know, at age 26, I would do a lot of things.
More than that, that I wouldn't do at age 52. But, yeah, we made a lot of money. We made a lot of money, and, like, I didn't think.
The company grew so fast that you don't expect it to, you know, I didn't expect it to grow as fast as it did, no pun intended, but it grew very fast. And, you know, we just became a target. And in that state, it was called policing for profit.
It was something that was very popular. where they didn't have to like indict your or like charge you with any kind of crime or anything they could just go to a judge and if there was like a 70 % chance they could basically take everything that you have and then you have no money to defend yourself and When you start putting up a fight, you know, they're like, oh well get your girlfriend.
We'll get your grandmother So I'm like, you know You know came to the point where I'm like, I'm gonna walk in front of that bullet and then I took I took a plea deal I mean like made up they gave me a plea I took it and you like we'll give us all your money and we'll let you walk and I'm like well, you know I always say, like, if you know the formula, the problem is never a problem.
You know, it's a big mathematical problem. It took me 27 months to get to that sum of $100 million. You know, they could come and wipe all the numbers off, but the problem is still there.
I know the formula. Give me another 27 months. You know, so I'm like, yeah, take the money.
I always could. Whatever. Just leave me alone.
I won't sell that type of product in this state. And it's a shame because in 2021, they passed a House Bill 2810 or whatever it's called. It makes that illegal that they can't do that without like actually convicting you of something.
So, but it was 2002 when it happened to me. So unfortunately, I don't have a time machine to go forward. But yeah, so I took like a probation and I said, I don't, you know.
And as a term of the probation, in that state, you could go to jail for up to one year. And I'm like, oh, I don't want to go to jail. So I didn't know if I was or wasn't.
Most people who go to jail are like deadbeats, and they're like a burden on their family. And I'm like, well, I got a family to support. I'd be in there in a cage, but I still have many, many people that depend on me for many things.
So I said, well, I'm going to write a book. I mean, I can't start a business. I'm going to write a book, and I view, like, my books as, like, I call them , because no matter what happens to me, like, I could be dead, right?
Like, half these guys on Amazon 100, like, you know, Viktor Frankl, he's dead. His book's on Amazon Top 100. The book's still there being a soldier.
And my book could be my paper soldier, so no matter what happened to me, it could still, like, support my loved ones. And if I did a good job, it could keep a roof over their head. If I did a great job, it may...
maybe put a Range Rover in the garage. So, yeah, so 17 days before I went away, I sat and I wrote The 12 -Month Millionaire. It was the best thing, and it's been the worst thing in my life.
So I printed it out. I stuck it in, like, a number 10, like, envelope box, just the sheets. I stuck it under, like, a kitchen cabinet by the garbage disposal, the vegetable sink that we don't use.
And I was like, yeah, take me to jail. So I went, I ended up going 90, I got sentenced to, like, 90 -something days in the... Tents the tent jail that with the pink sandals and pink slipper, you know pink underwear I mean, they thought they were like emasculating people.
I'm like, I like pink. I got like my book covers pink. I got pink Gucci shirts I got pink interior my car.
Oh, that's doesn't mean it, you know Yeah, I hurt me All right, if you're watching this you're thinking I want more of Vincent. I want to hear more of this story.
This is insane. I've got something really cool and exciting for you. We're doing a special 12 -month millionaire live event.
We're going to dive even deeper into everything behind the scenes, what Vincent does, how he does it, and how it can work for you inside of your business as well. If you want to come to that free event, all you got to do is click the link down below or go to 12monthmillionaire .com to go get registered for free and come hang out with us.
We're going to talk about behind the scenes, all the stuff. You have a chance to do Q &A with Vincent as well. And we may or may not be talking about his brand new book, 12 -Month Millionaire Part...
2 which somehow, I'm not sure how he did it, is actually better than the original. So, click the link down below. Come and register and hang out at the 12 -month millionaire event with me and Vincent James.
So, you're there night for 90 days. 93 or 94 days. And then you get out and you have this manuscript and what was...
Yeah. Well, a couple of months, a couple of weeks before I got out, I was telling my girlfriend. I'm saying, hey, could you like proofread that book a little bit?
Because when I get out, I got to hit the ground running like Usain Bolt. I got to be running. So she proofs it, and I'd be calling collect, you know, to collect call from an inmate at Maricopa County, whatever, and I'd be like, yo, and she's like, I'm reading the book.
Hey, I'm going to get off early tonight. You know, I'm going to get back to the book. And I'm like, should I be jealous of myself?
You know, like, you know, it's like, I want to talk a little bit. I'm here, you know. So she read the book.
I got out, and I said, Gary, I got this book. Can I send it to you? And I intended on selling it as a book, you know, like a $20 to $30 book, you know, so.
He's like, yeah, send it down. So I print it out. And this is small compared to what I sent him because I had a three -ring binder I sent down to him.
It's like this big three -ring binder. A month goes by. And he calls me.
It was my birthday. It was January 23rd, I remember. And he said, hey, Vince, I just got back from Costa Rica.
And I said, hey, what's going on? So he's like, hey, I brought the book down to Costa Rica with me. And I'm like, this guy brought this huge, I mean, I feel bad for the people sitting next to him on the plane.
He's already, you know, yeah, right? So he's like, hey, you know, do you know what you created here? And I was like, no, I really don't know what I created here.
I just told a diary of how I built it. And he says, you know, I tell people to read every issue of my newsletter.
Thomas Hall, direct mail guide. I'm going to change what I tell people to say when they want to get into direct marketing. I'm going to tell them that they need to read, still read every issue of my newsletter, but also to read The 12 -Month Millionaire.
And I was like, really? And I'm like, yeah. And he was like, you know, Gary, if you knew Gary back then, Gary wasn't very nice.
He was like a schoolgirl. He loved the book. And I'm like, I don't even think he liked me.
I don't think he liked anybody. But he loved it. So I was like, okay.
Enough of all that. I need money. Are you going to promote this in your newsletter?
And he's like, well, I don't want to promote it as a book. I think it's more than a book. He wanted to probably squeeze more out of people for it.
So I said, all right. He's like, let me think about it. And I took it as like a blow off, like a friendly blow off.
Three months later, he called. He goes, hey, I know how I'm going to promote it. And I said, how are you going to promote it?
He said, I'm going to build my seminar, a $3 ,700 seminar that he did with Mark Joyner. fusion seminar. He's like, I'm going to build a seminar off the teachings of the book, but in order to come to the seminar, they've got to buy the book first.
And I was like, wow, that's going to put my book before your seminar? I'm like, that's pretty crazy. So he did, and he promoted it.
It sold for $300, and I don't think there wasn't a name in the industry at that time who wasn't on that customer list and contacting me. And I'm like, whoa, I read your book. And you were one of them.
And then, yeah, it blew up until it got me arrested. It got you arrested. It's the first time it got me arrested.
I actually got arrested twice for selling it. One of them was my fault, I found out recently. I feel really bad about this.
We got together about six months ago. We sat down to record some products and some stuff together. And I'm doing the interview with him, and he tells me.
So after the book happens and I do the interview with him, then two years later, I launch this thing. And do you want to tell what happened? Because I didn't know this until just recently.
I felt horrible. Well, the first time I got arrested for it, it was just because, you know, I don't know. I had a judge's permission to sell it, and I got arrested for, they said I was self -employed by selling the book, which, I mean, like, how do I have permission to write and sell a book if it's not being, you know, I guess maybe they wanted me to have it through a publisher maybe or whatever, but I don't know.
I do this stuff myself. So, yeah, so I had to, in order to settle that probation violation, because a probation violation, you only need like 50 % chance of it being true.
It's called a preponderance of evidence. So it's like, it's a coin flip. So I could be found guilty.
Anybody could be found pretty much guilty of anything at a probation violation. And I wasn't, you'd be an idiot to take it to a witness hearing that they call it. So you always take like, oh no, I'll agree to a lesser thing and just, you know, put me back on that probation, please.
So I got back on the probation and I had about a year left. So I was like, oh, I just, a year I could do. I had, you know, I had a...
I had some oxygen in the tank, as I call it. Life is like scuba diving. Your cash reserves is like oxygen in the tank.
Scuba diving is fun until you run out of oxygen. Then you're screwed. So it's like I always like to have a certain amount of oxygen in my tank.
And I had enough oxygen in my tank, and I said I could float the year and get off this crap that does not like people to be successful in any way. And I have a problem. If I'm not violating the rights of others by selling a book and like...
No one's going to stop me from selling that. I don't give a, I don't care. You know, I'm not going to, you know, especially then.
Now I'd probably be like, maybe I'll, you know. So yeah, so I was getting off, and about three months from getting off, and then our buddy Mark calls me again. He says, Vince, congratulations.
Like, you guys, you did like a million dollars in like a week selling this 12 -month millionaire stuff? And I'm like. What the hell are you talking about?
I don't know anything about this. So he shows me the website and I said, oh, I remember that. That's an audio I did with Russell.
And I said, I wonder if I should maybe like bring this up to my probation officer that it is not me. But then, you know, you run the risk of, you know, sometimes it's better not. And I'm like, I haven't decided yet.
And it didn't even matter because like that night there's a knock at my door. Probation officer asked me to come to her car. And I'm like, that's weird.
I don't know why she would want me to come to her. Oh, I have to give you a breath analyzer or something like that in the car. I'm like, breath analyzer?
What the hell is she talking about? So I'm walking to my car, and there was a ton of cops all lined up against my garage door, and they tackled me and dragged me on the floor. You're like, oh, yo, I'm bleeding, man.
You're like, cut me up here. I don't need to be tackled. You can say, you know, sit.
So they went through my... went through my house, and I lived alone at the time, so, you know, so there's no witnesses or anything, and they didn't have, like, ring cameras or any kind of crap like that, so. So, yeah, so that was unpleasant.
So I'm celebrating, like, my first million dollars in a funnel, I'm freaking out, team's farting, everything, and Vince is getting jumped in his front yard by the cops. And I didn't even make any of the million. Because we were the ones that, because, yeah, I had the right story interview, so, like, I just sold it, and we didn't even talk about it before or after until a year ago.
Yeah, so. I feel bad about that. No, it's pretty good.
We're doing the interview, and he's telling me the story. I was like, you must hate me. He's like, oh, it's fine.
I'm like, are you going to try to, like, anyway. Hey, the rumors about me are not true.
It's crazy. Yeah, so I was violated for selling the 12 -month internet millionaire. Nothing was in my house regarding that.
But there was obviously a swipe. I have a computer with a swipe file on it. And the way it worked was all the ads that were in my swipe file, they said I was the owner of.
I was the owner or silent partner of these companies. And I'm like, one of them was a publicly traded company that was founded in 1913 that I actually did copy for. I was a silent partner of a publicly traded Swedish company that was formed in 1913.
So I'm like, this is crazy. Another one of the companies I was a partner or I owned was Trim Spa, which was like that diet pill back then. So I'm like, I don't know.
It was an advertisement. I'm like, the owner of that company, I looked him up. His name is Alex Gowen.
I'm like, Alex Cohen, I never met him. He couldn't pick me out of a lineup if his life depended on it. The only way he could pick me out of a lineup is if they lined me up with like nine Asian guys and said, pick the guy named Vinny.
Like, that's the only way it's going to happen. So. But they kept trying to pin on you saying you own these companies because you had a swipe file with their ads in it.
Yeah, so I'm like, I'm in a house under house arrest. I own a publicly traded company, $100 million diet pill company. I'm like.
Shit, give me an award for, you know, if I was able to pull that off, I'd be like, I wish I did. Where's my checks? So, yeah, so I'm like, I stuck around for like four months after that, like just trying to like, trying to get these tards to see, you know, that, what are you talking about?
You know, I just can't get, because they have confirmation bias. And they're like, we know we got, it's only 50 .1%. So you're screwed, right?
So I'm like, well, I didn't. want to have to take off until I had to. I mean, what am I going to do?
So I gave up my freedom in the United States of America to be free in the . So I was like, bye. So I made bail and I took off.
Unplugged from the system. I changed my phone. I was doing all that, you know, all that, you know, burnt every, you know, I sold my car, my cat.
I had to send my cat away. I lost my damn cat for like three years. Oh, man.
She lived more than three years, but I lost her for three years. I got her back, though. She remembered me, which was a good thing.
It took a little while, but... But, yeah, I had to give up my whole life, and I took off. I had friends that lived out in La Jolla, in the Cove, and they had a nice condo, and I'm like, you know who's renting that place?
So I was out in California with my feet up, and I was still working, obviously. I mean, I don't kiss and tell, especially during that period of time, but... You know, the people that I worked with, everybody in this room would know who they are.
Yeah, I actually had conversations with some of them. Like, when I was trying to figure out where you're at, and someone's like, oh, Vince has been writing copy for so -and -so, and so I'm like, oh, like, underground. So he was, during this window of time, again, names you guys don't know, he's writing copy for and doing projects, and so, which is interesting, because we'll come back to, like, the 12 -month millionaire, too, but it's like, you had this season of, like, 18 years where you're no longer, like, the face and the running of business.
You're behind the scenes just focusing on copy and offers and all those kind of things. and structuring those like did you enjoy that part or it's probably nice not having to run the whole business again yeah you know it didn't really matter to me because it's like if i had my my choice i'd rather just do the creative part and have them do it i mean the problem is a lot of these a lot of a lot of these guys they come to me and they're insecure they're like oh things aren't working you know the house is on fire and i come in and i fix it and all of a sudden their staff starts kissing my butt and they're like hey you can't be kissing his butt you gotta be kissing my butt you know and then they get their head turns back to their normal size And they usually have, you know, that's what happens.
But luckily there's enough of those people that there's some that I worked with all the way through. Yeah. You know, there's people that I've worked with, you know, 58 months.
I was like, damn, can't you be 60? So like I say, you paid for this car.
That's awesome. I'm going to ask you more about what you learned that during that window, but there's one story you told me backstage. I thought it was really funny that I left for you to talk about how you got out of a life sentence with a sales letter.
Cause this is going to be very interesting, very important for any guys who ever get a life sentence. Oh my God, yeah. Hopefully none of you do, but if you do, pay close attention.
How did the book turn into a life sentence? I don't even know. It just was so crazy.
Yeah, so I waited 18 years. I waited a little bit over 16 years to come back because I had to wait for this crazy prosecutor to retire. He just didn't like me.
He had a PhD, a , and I was that player that he was hating. I had to wait him out. You know, he didn't die.
I mean, you know, I said the rumors aren't true, but he didn't die, but he retired. You know, on his $80 ,000 salary, he bought a $1 .7 million house. He must have got one low interest rate.
I don't know how that happens, but I'll send him a Christmas card this year. I will. It's not Christmas time yet.
He will get one. Because I'm free now. Maybe it would have been probably scary to send it when I wasn't free because like, is he in the book?
You know, he's chasing you. So anyway, but I didn't hate him as bad as I hate him now then. And I'll tell you why.
So I come back and I hire the former head of the criminal division of the attorney general's office to be my lawyer. So it's like, these guys switch teams like I've never seen before. So it's like, you're bad.
Oh, you're going to pay me? Hey, this guy's innocent. Like, you know, he's a great...
You know, I'd never seen that before. I couldn't do that. It's like switching teams, you know.
So I hired a guy that switched the teams, and I'm like, hey, am I good? He's like, you're great. I'm like, I like that.
You know, it makes me give for my self -esteem. So it's like, okay, so you guys aren't, you know. So he contacts someone down at the attorney general's office.
She cracks open the file to go look at, you know, I want to come back and resolve this stuff because I would like to be, like, on stage, you know, in 2026 at Funnel Hacking Live. You know, I want to be here, you know.
Yeah, it's not fun looking out the windows, you know, it's like I got the windows closed, you know It's like, you know, my mind's playing tricks on me. It's like that song, you know, I'm like So he she cracks open the file and he's like, yeah I think I can get you back on the probation, you know for that little eight nine whatever much you got left Oh my god, that's cool.
So she cracks open the file and she says Yeah, that's keep in mind. I took off in the very beginning of 2008. So it turns out in 2012 Like, five years after I left, that prosecutor had me indicted on, like, three counts.
And, you know, they stack them. If you stacked them, it would have been 116 and a quarter years. And I'm like, I'm a fugitive at the time as well.
So I'm like, how could I, like, you can't, like, go post a bond and go fight it because you're like, you're not going to, they're not going to let you post a bond. You're going to have to go sit in a jail for, like, a year and a half. until this trial comes up.
And I'm like, well, if my lawyer, former head of the criminal division, is like, I don't advise you turning yourself in. I'm like, no shit. So, you know, but you got the former good guy, you know, telling me to stay on the run.
So I'm like, there's no black or white. It's black or red. It's checkers, you know.
So it turns out that I'm like, I haven't been in that state in like five years. Like, what the hell could I have done in five years? I wasn't even there.
So then I said, oh, there's a seven -year statute of limitations. So this guy went back. into that old 2007 laptop from like five years ago, probably plugged it in.
And he's like, what could I indict him for in here? So I was a copywriter. So I wrote a copy for a pain relief supplement.
And I was indicted for that. And like I said, the charges were like 116 and a quarter years. And I'm like, oh man, this one might be a little tough to get out of.
And I'm like. How could this be? Because the guy I wrote it for, he never launched it.
You know how these guys are, right? They got like entrepreneurial ADD. I write stuff.
I'm like, did you ever do it? I'm like, I don't care. Check cleared.
We're good. I'm like, as long as I don't have like a piece of it, then I'm like, you better do it because I'll take it back and go do it or find someone else to go do it. But, you know, he never launched it.
And my lawyer's like, he probably got indicted. I'm like, no, he didn't get indicted. And he's like, how do you know?
I said, because he... He paid me like two months ago for like as recently as like two months ago. He never he did He didn't even he wasn't even aware of it.
I'm like, did you know? Did you ever get like any kind of heat or any kind of questioning about that? He goes now so I'm like just the copywriter gets indicted You know, so I'm like one of the charges was like money laundering because they always tie like a money laundering charge to the crime But i'm like it never launched.
So how could there be there's no money to launder, you know So i'm like this is this guy's crazy. That's why I waited 16 years from the retire, but he's like, oh yeah, I know you're gonna wait for me to retire.
I'll put that little secret surprise in there for you when you come back. But what they indicted me for was when you abscond from probation, it's just like a bench warrant. You know, this sounds like a true crime podcast we're doing here.
It's like, are we selling books or are we talking about, what is this, The Sopranos or something? So when you abscond from probation, it's just a bench warrant. So you're like, oh, bench warrant, you know what that means?
That means nobody comes looking for you. And that guy was really, Mad that he couldn't come looking for me.
So he had to figure out a new way to come looking for me And that's what they did with that new those new charges. They weren't like legitimate So that's how they ended up at your office or my office random that one. Yeah, you know, Idaho I've never been to Idaho in my life.
I mean, could you imagine I couldn't fit in? I don't know this protection program in Idaho or something, you know, I Mean I already used to get it as bad as it was in Arizona. They'd be like, oh my cousin Vinny like the movie and I'm like Say that again.
I'm like, it's Vince. You know, only Vinny could call me family. That's how I know who's looking for me.
They're like, Vincent. I'm like, bye, ain't me. They're like, Vinny.
I'm like, okay, who do you know? You know? So the sales letter.
Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah.
So I said, I got to figure out a way to get out of this. How can I do this? So I'm like.
I figured out a way to get out of it, at least I thought. So I said, I'm the greatest copywriter in the world. So I said, I'm going to write a sworn statement that's under oath, a sworn statement, and I'm going to give it to my lawyer, and he's going to give it to her, and it's going to say, look at the Wayback Machine.
This thing never had a website, never modeled, and have all these things that could prove that it's absolute bullshit. So he's like, well, I don't like that idea because we don't know what they have. It's a sealed indictment.
We don't know. We don't know what they have. And I said, let me tell you something, homie.
If there's evidence, whether I want to admit it or not, I would know. And there is nothing. And he's like, well, still, you can get me for malpractice if I put you in danger like this.
And he goes, why don't you write it as if you're me? And I'll put it on my letterhead. He's like, could you do something like that?
And I'm like, bro, I'm the greatest copywriter in the world. That's what I do for a living. So this is the weirdest sales letter I've ever written.
So I'm like, Dear friend, if you would like those.
So I write this letter. And I'm like, and I give it to him. And he, you know, he pisses in the corner a little bit and puts a typo here, you know, because he couldn't make it identical, you know.
So he puts it on his letterhead. He sends it off. And 30 days later, crickets.
Nothing happened. And I said, shit, I need to start rethinking this greatest copywriter in the world. Crap, I keep telling everybody because I did not get no response here.
You know, but uh, but 30 days after that she called and she said yeah, she's probably reading this letter and she's saying like wow this guy really cares about his client because it is the pie the most like You know persuasive letter because these guys don't care, you know, nobody cares about you. They go home Let me think about you.
So so yeah, so she says I reviewed everything and I'm dropping the charges and They had to drop the truck. She had a legal illegal obligation So I don't consider myself the greatest copywriter because I made $116 million selling a product.
I may consider myself the world's greatest copywriter because I got myself out of a 116 -year life sentence. Let's go. Of course I could sell your crap.
I want to see that. Do we have that in your swipe file? I want to see that.
Yeah, okay, that'll be a swipe file. I wouldn't feed that to no AI, though.
Okay, we've got one last question, then we're going to show you guys something really cool we're doing here in a second. But the last question is, You're on the run you're working behind the scenes for a whole bunch of the most prolific marketers and business owners in the world And then you put it in this new book 12 -month millionaire part 2 What are some of the things that you learned that you include this book that you think will blow people's minds?
Yeah well I wrote this one when I was 30 years old and I wrote this one when I was about 20 years older than that and obviously I learned a whole lot more and I knew by naming it the 12 -month millionaire to you know, I'd have Gary like looking down on me saying like You better make sure that it exceeds like what I said, you know the first time around so no, it's it's a great It's it's a phenomenal book.
I just you know, sometimes I like I don't pick it up as like often as I as you know Like I don't pick it up and I and I start to you know, and then I pick it up. I said, holy crap That's a great, you know, but yeah, no, it's a great book It it has a something the whole first part of it It goes over something that I call the I have the q filter I call it that I run products and services through that have like Commonalities of winning products and I would not even test the product if it doesn't have at least six of the Q filter Factors in it.
So I mean not alone. It's like forget about it. Yeah, they're very counterintuitive.
I read it I was just like, huh? Yeah, everybody disagrees with it. Yeah, and then they're like would you say I think he's right?
Yeah, I don't want to admit it, but I think he's right Yeah, I don't you know, I don't care any I don't have a dog in the race, you know, it's like I'm you know, it's It is what it is. Yeah.
How many of you guys are interested in reading this new copy of his book? All right, now if you enjoyed this conversation I had with Vincent and you want to go deeper, I've got really good news for you. Vincent and I are doing a live event, a one -time only live event.
You can register for free by going to 12monthmillionaire .com or clicking on the link in the description. At this event, we're talking about a lot of really cool things, including his new book, 12 Month Millionaire Part 2, which I don't know how, but it's actually better than the original. So if you want to come to that free event, please go to 12monthmillionaire .com right now.
Click the link down below. in the description and I cannot wait to see you live with Vincent James.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
The host opens holding a manuscript he paid $297 for twenty years ago, the one that became his first million-dollar funnel. Then the twist: the interview he sold from it sent its author on the run from the cops for 18 years.
How they asked for the click.
MENTIONED ON CAMERA
FROM THE DESCRIPTION
PRIMARY CTAWhere the creator wants you to go next.
OTHER LINKSAlso linked in the description.
