Is It Legit?
Yes. Here's the verifiable track record behind both hosts and the event itself, so you don't have to take our word for it.
TL;DR
Side Hustle Summit 2026 is a real event run by two people with long, public track records. Russell Brunson co-founded ClickFunnels, a company with over a decade of history and more than 100,000 active business users. Iman Gadzhi built IAG Media and co-owns Whop, a platform processing over $1 billion a year in payments. The event publishes exact dates, named episodes and a named line-up rather than vague promises, registration is free, and every claim on this page can be checked independently.
- Verdict
- Legitimate event, verifiable hosts and companies
- Russell Brunson
- Co-founder of ClickFunnels, NYT bestselling author
- Iman Gadzhi
- Founder of IAG Media, co-owner of Whop
- Cost
- Free, no card required at registration
- Published detail
- Exact dates, named episodes, named hosts
- What to expect
- A paid program presented during the free event
Which one this is: the Side Hustle Summit hosted by Iman Gadzhi and Russell Brunson, running as five live episodes from September 6 to 13, 2026. Other events have used the Side Hustle Summit name and are run by unrelated organisers, so check the hosts and the dates before registering anywhere.
Our take
Real hosts. Real companies. A well-documented track record.
Nothing about Side Hustle Summit 2026 resembles a vague or anonymous operation. Both hosts run companies you can look up independently, and the event publishes exact dates and named episodes rather than loose promises.
What Backs This Up
- The hosts are real and long-established. Russell Brunson co-founded ClickFunnels, a company with more than a decade of public history. Iman Gadzhi has built IAG Media and a large public media presence over years, and is now co-owner of Whop. Neither appeared last month.
- The companies are independently verifiable. ClickFunnels and Whop are both real, operating businesses with public footprints well beyond this one event.
- The details are specific, not vague. Exact dates, named episodes and a published schedule are the kind of detail that vague or anonymous operations tend to avoid.
- The format is standard in this industry. Free, live multi-episode training is a widely used way for established operators to reach new audiences directly.
How To Verify It Yourself
You do not need to take anyone's word for this, including ours. Look up ClickFunnels and Whop independently; both have public histories you can research in a few minutes. Check both hosts' long-running public presence rather than a single video or page. And look at the specificity of what is published here: real dates, real episode titles, a real structure, the kind of detail that is easy to verify and hard to fake convincingly for long.
General Good Practice
Whenever you're evaluating any online event or opportunity, the same three checks apply: is there a real, identifiable company behind it, does the person or team have a public track record beyond this one event, and are the details specific enough to verify independently. Side Hustle Summit 2026 clears all three, which is the basis for recommending it here.
What "Free Event" Actually Means
One thing worth naming plainly, because it is the question underneath most searches for whether something is legitimate: a free event of this size is a marketing event. That is not a hidden catch, it is the business model, and understanding it is what lets you attend on your own terms.
The structure works like this. Two hosts with large audiences teach real material across five sessions at no cost. During those sessions, a paid program is presented, in this case Monetise at $1,995. A percentage of attendees buy it, and that revenue funds the event. The teaching in the free sessions has to be substantial, because material that is not useful does not convince anyone to go further.
So the two questions to separate are whether the event is real and whether you should buy what is offered at the end. The first is settled: real hosts, real companies, published dates. The second is a decision you make after seeing five sessions of their teaching, with more information than you have right now. Registering costs an email address and commits you to nothing.
What This Page Cannot Tell You Yet
Being straight about the limits of a verification page matters as much as the verification itself. Three things are not knowable in advance:
- The quality of the sessions. The event has not run yet. Track record tells you what these two have delivered before, not what these specific five episodes will contain.
- Whether the format holds. Live events shift. Times, running order and structure can change between now and September.
- What the offer looks like on the day. Monetise is the known program at $1,995, but the exact terms presented during the event, including any event-only pricing or bonuses, have not been published.
What can be verified today is who is behind it, whether the companies are real, and whether the published detail is specific. All three check out.
Last updated: July 23, 2026.
Legitimacy: Common Questions
Is Side Hustle Summit 2026 legit?
Yes. Both hosts run real, established, publicly verifiable companies, the event publishes specific dates and an episode-by-episode schedule rather than vague promises, and it follows a format widely used by serious operators in the online business space.
Are Iman Gadzhi and Russell Brunson real business owners?
Yes. Russell Brunson co-founded ClickFunnels, a software company used by more than 100,000 active businesses. Iman Gadzhi is co-owner of Whop, a platform processing over a billion dollars a year in payments, and founder of IAG Media. Both are long-established, publicly documented companies.
Is the free training actually useful, or just promotional?
It is worth attending live. Live formats let hosts answer real questions in real time rather than reading a script, and both hosts have built their public reputations on delivering substantive teaching, not filler.
How can I verify this event myself?
Check the primary sources directly: ClickFunnels and Whop are both real companies with public track records you can look up independently, and the event publishes a specific schedule with named episodes rather than vague claims.
Should I be worried about scams in this space?
General caution around any online opportunity is always reasonable. The markers of a legitimate operator are real, verifiable companies, a long public track record, and specific, published details rather than vague promises, and this event has all three.
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