The Alchemy of Business Show – Episode 3: Secrets, Riches, & Wisdom with Greg Reid Greg Reid and Steve Rodgers in Conversation
Secrets, Riches, & Wisdom
Challenges – life is full of them. We’ve all experienced getting knocked down and feeling like we want to scamper away with our tail tucked between our legs.
Some challenges, such as rejection and failure, derail us from our goals. But have you ever thought that for every thousand “no’s” there will always be at least one “yes”? We just have to be patient and keep our eyes on the goal, no matter how difficult the journey is.
Greg S. Reid, a bestselling author, keynote speaker, filmmaker, and entrepreneur, did not waver when he encountered rejection after rejection. Because of this, he now has much to teach us about overcoming it in our own lives. You may even have one of his famous inspirational quotes on your favorite coffee mug.
In this episode, Greg teams up with your host Steve Rodgers and together they regale the audience with their experiences and talk about how they dealt with the curveballs life threw at them. They also discuss why perseverance and IGI are essential in one’s journey to success, among many other topics. Throughout the episode, both drop valuable tips and golden nuggets that are useful for everyone, entrepreneur or not.
This is truly an entertaining and inspiring podcast episode that you do not want to miss. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kCt0ouuCMg&list=PLvjFTTMGtmHNwgZULN453CvJ0H4K1RB49&index=5&t=2s
TIMESTAMPS:
[3:57] Absorbing knowledge with a student’s mind [9:25] Withstanding the “no’s” in life [20:25] The difference between a coach and a mentor and why you should have one [38:35] How to have the abundance to finance your passion [40:57] The wealth mindset [49:41] Inviting good energy in and keeping bad energy out
GUEST BIO:
Greg S. Reid is the bestselling author of Millionaire Mentor, a keynote speaker, and filmmaker. He is a natural entrepreneur known for his giving spirit and a knack for translating complicated situations into simple, digestible concepts. As the CEO of several successful corporations, Greg has dedicated his life to helping others achieve the ultimate fulfillment of finding and living a life of purpose.
As an action taking phenomenon, strategy turns into results fast and furious, and relationships are deep and rich in the space he orbits. He is a firm believer in the role of win-win partnerships and making a difference in others to help them succeed.
He can be found having a great time brewing up inspiration, occasionally breaking into song and dance, and being of service to those around him. In addition to that Greg is a single dad of an 8-year-old superstar named Colt.
LINKS:
Show Transcript
Steve
Hello everybody and welcome to The Alchemy of Business Show. This is where we’re talking about wiser decisions, greater profits, higher purpose. And I am so excited to have my friend, longtime friend and associate and good buddy here, Mr. Greg Reid. Many of you probably know Greg, he has been in the world of entrepreneurship, leadership, filmmaking, but this guy I met maybe 15 years ago, and he was just in the midst of writing his book. He’s written a few before that, but this is one of his big ones, Three Feet From Gold. And he literally was just in the middle of getting that launched. Over that time of knowing Greg for all these years, he’s done now over 100 books, 32 bestsellers, written in 45 languages, serial entrepreneur. His books are titled Stickability Power, Perseverance, The Millionaire Mentor, on and on and on. Also audible books. He’s got a few films that he’s done that I want to talk to him about on his films that he’s done, which are amazing, not only documentaries, but full film feature films. His event, Secret Knock has become one of the Top Global Seminar workshops out there in the world, noted by Forbes. He also is doing something called Prosperity Camp. This guy is doing all kinds of stuff. So I am thrilled to have Mr. Greg Reid here. He’s also a happy papa and I want to talk to him about being a dad, and also how he’s helping people in the world. So here on Alchemy Advisors and The Alchemy of Business, Mr. Greg Reid, how you doing, Greg?
Greg
Man? I love that introduction of you. And I know you didn’t set it up this way. But right next to me. I got a coincidence. Are you ready for this? Yeah, go ahead. Well, the first major bestselling book I did was called Positive Impact. And the only person who would give me an endorsement on this book was a guy named Brian Tracy. Oh, yeah. He was my hero. He was my he was a legend, right? Are we still is. And I remember when he did it, it gave me the confidence that I actually had a shot in this industry. And just recently, his latest book is on the bookshelves, and my endorsement of him is on the back of his book.
Steve
I love that that is so awesome. Well, Greg is going to be actually a great, I’m going to have Brian on the show in about 10 days. So he’s going to be on I’m going to mention that to him and show him this little segment. He’s a mentor for both of ours for sure. And I remember when you guys were, you know, you were like oh my god, this guy, and then boom, you’re on stages together, you guys are doing work together. So tell me about how in your your big vision that you had for yourself. And you have met not only the Brian Tracys of the world, but celebrities and presidents and different people. How has that inner drive that you have? You have this passion, that’s a fire that a lot of people just don’t have. And I don’t know if that’s teachable or not. But how has that passion and fire led you to this spot you’re sitting in today in that chair on this journey? And what is it that you have, Greg, that has allowed you to do all these things? Like what isn’t it?
Greg
No answer all those 18 questions in a soundbite,
Steve
there’s, you’re like you’re at you can actually happen. I know that. So let’s do it.
Greg
So it’s a student’s mind number one, meaning that instead of the Guru status, or I know something you don’t know, I’m a student’s mind. So I go out and I interview people that I am curious to know information directly from the source. And then I feel like I’m just one step ahead. So I go, Hey, by the way, I just learned this and I get to pass it along and go to the next. So I believe that that gives me enthusiasm as I’m going because I’m constantly learning and not about teaching and constantly learning. And then I’m very fortunate that people asked me to come and teach what I just learned.
Steve
And when you were doing that teaching and learning and I know you have that students mind and all those 18 questions, let’s peel back on back on some of those. So when you met the Brian Tracys the Les browns, the Halle Berrys, the Matthew McConaugheys, did you change your level of confidence of who you were as a person and an individual, the more and more you met people of stature going Hmm, I guess I’m not I’m more than I was thought I was or did you always think you were that and you rose to that?
Greg
Every time I sit next to these holy smokes, I hope they don’t think I’m just me. You know, you’re just a regular person who’s been very fortunate. And like I said, it’s just that student’s mindset. For example, I remember I got a chance to have John Travolta, teach me Pulp Fiction dance, Grammys night at the city gala. But I was curious because I knew he was a pilot. So I asked him says, Hey, is life like a checklist? You wake up every day and you go down, like a pilot would and do your checklist for your know your personal life? And he goes, absolutely no, no, I think about it. Yeah, I do. And there’s what we do, and we check for movie scripts and things of this nature. And I think we all have day to day aspects. That’s common sense to us. That is pure genius to somebody else. And it’s my goal and my mission to find out what that genius is, and then pull it out. And so I can share it with others so they can be inspired as well.
Steve
That’s awesome. I think we, Aaron, I think we have a few pictures of Greg with Travolta, weren’t you getting him to even do his cool little? How did? Aaron if you can pop up some of those, like when you’re on you said, Hey, I hope these people don’t know who I am. I think that’s part of your magic of your beauty of you are just who you are. And they’re intrigued by your fun, your quirkiness, you’re you’re so like, I mean, like you’ve got who’s that Heidi Klum. You’ve got John Travolta, you got Matthew McConaughey. So when you were getting John, tell me about when you got John to do his Pulp Fiction kind of thing. How did that come about? And where was that event at?
Greg
Well, it’s was funny it was and again, the city gala during Grammys night. And right before we’re walking out on stage, and it was at the Disney auditorium up in LA, sold out proud thousands of people in the audience, and we’re walking out and I go, Hey, let me ask you something. He goes want to go? Can I get you to teach me to dance at the end of this? He goes, why not? And so at the end of the interview, I said, Hey, before we end, and then sure enough, but the weird thing is we didn’t have music queued for it because it was a spur of the moment thing. So the whole audience started clapping. We’re real slow. And he showed me so it was pretty fun. It’s again, it’s always those those cool a-ha! moments. This last time even at Secret Knock, you know, we had Gary Busey, the famed wild man actor, get a live brain scan. And on stage, you know, we had Dr. Joe Dispenza. come in and teach him
Steve
Joe’s Awesome. Yeah, I saw you had him there. That’s amazing.
Greg
It’s always like what’s coming next, because a good football quarterback never throws the football where a wide receiver standing, they throw it downfield. So I’m now looking for what’s coming next. So I can share it with our audience.
Steve
Well, and you share it with the audience, you do that awesome, not only through your events of Secret Knock, which we’re going to talk about really in detail in the next segment that we’re going to have. But I also want to talk about the way you’re helping people, you help them to books, you help them through mentoring. But you also were doing what you just said, you go seek out people, you learn from them, and then you digest it back in kind of a simplistic way. I think that people can digest it well, whether they’re entrepreneurs or budding corporate people that want to, you know, grinds the ladder, whatever it might be. So was there a common theme that you have seen through some of these celebrities, millionaires, billionaires have some of these key qualities that they had, that you kept seeing a repeating theme?
Greg
Yeah, they all had stickability, you know, the power to persevere. You know, first there’s a dream, then there’s a challenge and then comes victory. Unfortunately, most people quit and the challenging moments, but it’s the people that persevere and just course correct along the way. They’re the ones that we tell the stories about, like Truett Cathy’s founder of Chick-fil-A. He says, Look, if I’m on my sofa, and I want to get to the end of the street, I have stickability. I won’t wait till I get there. He goes, but I look for uncapitalized an unexpected opportunity. A planner is going to plan every step where they’re going to pause, take a break, a sprinkler comes up, freaks them out, they run back home, not me. I’m looking for opportunity. Did a kid leave a skateboard or a bicycle out that I can borrow to make my journey short. If I get lucky and wave down a neighbour driving by catch a ride to the end of the street. He says either way, I’ll get to my goal. I’ll get to my destination. I’m just not so caught up in exactly how it has to happen.
Steve
That’s awesome. So, so whether it was Halle Berry, John Travolta, Joe Dispenza, stickability was you think at the top of the list even beyond their talent, or their charisma or whatever it might be?
Greg
Absolutely, because we’re all going to go through so much rejection, you know, so many people will tell us No. And Paul J. Meyer, the billionaire sat me down one time. He says your success is in direct proportion to your ability to withstand a no, if you’re willing to ask enough ladies out, eventually you’ll get a date for the dance. And that’s always stuck with me and seems a common trait of all these amazing people. If they were told no time and again, they just never let another person or themselves talk them out of what they knew to be true.
Steve
Well, when I first met you, I was going through a major transition myself. I’d been in the corporate world and was the CEO of a company and it was in the mortgage meltdown in 2008. And a mutual friend of ours, Nerica, introduced us and I met you at a holiday party at a Christmas party. He was in tears 1008 And you were just in the midst of launching Three Feet From Gold. And you were going through exactly what you just said you had gotten rejection after rejection. So we’ve got about one or two minutes or two minutes left in the segment, can you share with people some of the stories in you getting Three Feet From Gold even launched because you have been one of the people that have been blessed to take Napoleon Hills: Think and Grow Rich concepts, principles and endorsed by the foundation, which not a lot of the people in the world can say they did. But you that didn’t happen overnight. I mean, you were like, I remember when I met you, I’m like, wow, this guy is talking about perseverance. So can you share with the audience, just some of the stories of getting Three Feet From Gold down and how that even became how that came about
Greg
that book? Yeah, what a blessing. I mean, Napoleon Hill in 1908, was given a letter by Mr. Andrew Carnegie to meet all of his friends to write the first ever formula for success. And 100 years later, to the date, the Napoleon Hill family and the foundation gave me the same type letter. It’s a Willy Wonka ticket, yet I still had to open up these doors of opportunity. But when the book was coming out, I was turned down by every publisher in New York saying, Who are you to possibly go on this journey and what makes you think that you can walk in these famous footsteps. And it wasn’t until Sharon Lechter, the amazing incomparable Sharon Lechter came on board, who wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad with Robert Kiyosaki. She came on as our co author and all of a sudden those doors that slammed shut suddenly magically opened. So much so that the only bookstore left in America, Barnes and Noble decided to write their own major publishing sister company. So we are published directly through the source and that’s how we got into every bookstore worldwide. But more importantly, it was sold in like 48 languages right out of the gate, and just flew off and ships.
Steve
Well, you you obviously the and one of the things I think are rich is about Matt, you know, magnifying and bringing people to you, like attracts like. So somehow in the world, you attracted Sharon and you guys hit it off. And I remember you telling me stories about getting off elevator after rejection and you like had to like get your last $100 to get a motel room to even go meet the whomever. So we talked about stickability and perseverance. How many times do you think that book changed and shaped ways before it actually got published?
Greg
Oh, too many to even mention. And the main thing is this. It’s never getting caught up in exactly where it’s at right now. And so I always look again at the future of what’s coming next. And if somebody can make it better, I’m all for it. One of the things that you and I agreed to is the importance of having non attachment. Detachment means you don’t care. Non attachment means you give it your best you’re not so attached to how the outcome comes to be. I know we’re going into break so I look forward to share a little bit more.
Steve
Yeah, Aaron, can you show before we go to break here? Let’s show Greg’s, if you haven’t upgrades Three Feet From Gold, I know that he’s got many, many books but also on his Amazon page on as an author. I went to him again last night and looked on his Amazon page about being an author. And I get so proud of myself. I’ve got two books on there. Actually, I’ve got three I did that one I did co with Greg a long time ago. I actually have three. But Greg, I was scrolling through those and I’m like, oh my god on your Amazon page. It’s like book after book in different languages. So I’m gonna ask you as you as we go off to break, I know you have one son, I want to talk about coat when we come back. And these books are probably like your kids. Is all of these books here. Is there anyone that your favourite, you have a favourite from thought for things to stickability to three is the one that jumps at you just love for some reason more than another.
Greg
And I’m going to share it with you when we come out after the break.
Steve
right, perfect. Well, thank you everybody for listening. And Mr. Greg Reid, come back and let’s hear about Greg’s favourite of his children of his books. And we’re going to dig deeper into his his progress of helping people in the world. Thanks, everybody, and stay tuned.
Speaker 3
Alright, guys, which one are you looking for there, Steve?
Greg
I was gonna do the millionaire mentor only because I’m having a pull up. These are all my rejection letters. So we’re going to show like how many times people said no,
Steve
perfect. So we’ll come back and I’ll pick up on that about what he was his favourite child. So if you can have the Millionaire Mentor, see what is on the screen and you could scroll like through all of his books, Aaron, he’s got it right there. But I think it’d be cool to scroll through all of his books and then stop on the Millionaire Mentor and then pop it up and have him show it as well. might not see any here guys. I’m sorry. It should be on our mentor right there. And then I want to go from that and then we’re gonna roll into when I first met Greg as well. Not only was he doing three feet from gold, but he quickly evolved into Secret Knock. So I remember when he had like, you know, 20 people or 16 people or whatever in that it was the first few so I want to talk to him about your your evolution. Greg, have Secret Knock on this next segment and then also that leading into prosperity camp and so we’ll do that on this next segment. And don’t forget about Wishman yep, that’s that’s I want to do that in the third segment and spend a lot of time on that especially when the Frakes recent passing, and then I’m going to finish in that in the For a segment about talking about higher purpose higher meaning what your EEG is your own inviting God or inviting good in so the last segment will be kind of really heartfelt, flowing out with a frank piece on the third segment. Let’s go. Okay.
Speaker 3
All right, back out. Greg and myself and then, Steve, it’s all you Okay.
Steve
Alrighty, thanks. Everybody in walk. Let me start over. Sorry, wack. Hi, everybody and welcome back to The Alchemy of Business. We are so thrilled today we’ve got Mr. Greg Reid here in the house. Greg has been sharing with us about stickability celebrities is Matt. But I asked him a question before we signed off about of all of his 100 Plus books, which are kind of like raising kids. Did he have a favourite and we left the audience saying what is that? So we’ve got Mr. Greg Reid back with us. Greg, as I scroll through the Amazon page last night on your site, you have like literally hundreds of books. So if I had to ask you again, which of these have you had to pick one? Do you have a favourite?
Greg
I always will go back to my first is called the Millionaire Mentor. And think, you know, people think I mentor millionaires or work with only rich people. But I actually worked with inner city gang kids in San Diego happen to be successful. So I drive up in a brand new car, the kids that I was mentoring would say here comes my millionaire mentor became a badge of honor. The President United States wrote a letter of commendation and changed my life and community. But people don’t understand when you write a book, you do something called a query letter. It says who you are, what’s your message, why are you an expert, who’s gonna read your book? Well, I grew up in the mean streets of Del Mar, California. And, you know, I’m dyslexic. I can’t spell very well, I can’t read very well. I’m just a good orator. And when I did my first book, I was sent out query after query and was turned down 268 times in a row
Steve
whoa.
Greg
269th publicist said, Well, that’s intense. Yeah, Georgia 69th ones. And we’ll do your book to change the title, beginning, middle and end, it was horrible.
Steve
So they kept your name on the book, at least they kept you on.
Greg
And I kept this because people didn’t believe me, let’s check this out. These are all my rejection letters that I got over the years of all the people telling me every single reason why I would never be an author. And here we are all the 100 bucks later, wow. 48 Books 45. But here’s the best part of that story. Because it’s not like a, you know, look at me type of story. But what’s cool is what’s possible. In this book, again, that was turned down that many times, one quote, was shared 37 million times last year. Whoa, whoa, all over the Internet, whether you know, it’s my quarter or not, it came from this book. And it says, a dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down becomes a plan. And a plan backed by action makes your dreams come true. You see in a coffee mugs shirts. Well, that’s my quote from this book that was turned down all these times of everyone telling me the reason no. And the reason I shared that is again, we can never let another person or cells talk us out of what we know, to be true.
Steve
That’s awesome. I think we have that at the top of your bio, Aaron. And I don’t know if you can pull that out for those that are seeing it so that they can visually see what just Greg just said, but again, a dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into these steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action makes your dreams come true. Greg S. Reid, I remember you saying that so many years ago, and wow, I had no idea that had been shared that many times. And because it’s truth, I mean, when you have such a deep truth like that, and that was that was a picture of me when you have these cool glasses. See I’ve known even before you had them cool looking glasses and your cool jacket
Greg
Around here somewhere. You know what’s so funny about that? Is this year, John Ashcroft did the quote on Instagram and I said, Wait Assar are off. That’s my quote, brother. And added it and Zig Ziglar his family dated it and I said, Hey, Zig. That’s my quote, Success Magazine this year, everyone has just been pretty cool.
Steve
Well, and you do that as luckily, that quote is something you’ve done. You’ve had really big dreams. I remember when you told me you were going to produce this film that we’re going to talk about in the next segment with the wish man, I was like, Whoa, that sounds I’m just thinking in my head. That sounds like a pretty big lofty goal there. But again, you got you tucked you ducked into these steps that I’m going to come back and talk about but you broke it down and you made that stuff happen. Let me come back to the Millionaire Mentor for a minute. Over the years you have been a mentor, either through osmosis or directly or because being asked or hired to be a mentor. But along the way, you’ve had a lot of mentors and I know you’ve had some key people at different levels, whether it was for technology and internet stuff or for financial stuff or for personal growth or for health So what what is it that when you became the student and you were mentioned about being dyslexic did having that different way of learning? Have you drawn to having more individual one on one mentors or people that you looked up to that you wanted to then go seek and find? And then you were bold enough to ask them for support? And can you talk to me about your mentoring relationship as being one and receiving being as a mentee?
Greg
Okay, I believe we should have many mentors in our life. And there’s a big distinguishing difference between a coach and a mentor. So a mentor to me is someone you don’t pay. It’s an older, wiser person who’s a couple steps ahead of you, that can show you the journey. And then you hire a coach that kick in the backside to get out of bed to go follow those steps. So I want to be very careful of how we’re saying that. Okay, I believe that we should have multiple mentors and multiple coaches, and every chosen field of endeavour that we’re working on. So for example, you know, I’ve got amazing speaker coaches when I first started, I mean, I had Les Brown and I, I had Charlie Tremendous Jones and the top of the top yet I don’t know if I would ask them about my financial literacy. So I went, I went to these people. And so today, I’m very, you know, careful who I surround myself with. Because I again, I believe we sort of surround yourself with people who have respect for who have already accomplished what we want to do in their chosen field of Endeavour and ask them for guidance. For example, I’m not gonna ask my accountant about his backhand in tennis, right? So it’s very important to make sure we’re surrounding ourselves with the right people are getting the right results in the right order. So we can do it too.
Steve
And were you surprised when you started asking some of these people of status or success, their willingness or did you find it took some coaxing,
Greg
no coaxing. In fact, the most successful people are also the most available people. If you’re brand new, you’re happy go lucky, you’re fresher, cool. Top of the field, you got nothing to prove. In the middle pain in the neck, you’re filled with ego, haha, the opposite of IGI, right, you’re edging God out. And I realised that most people were just going to this way. So for example, it is easier as crazy as it is to get to the founder of REMAX real estate Corporation, billion dollar empire than probably your local REMAX President down the street, because one person might have a little bit more ego or the other person just wants to teach the journey. So I just go directly to the source. For example, when I want to become a best selling author, I went to the bookstore and I went to the best selling section, I asked those authors to teach me. Now notice I didn’t go to the people that wrote the best books. I went, I didn’t want to write the best book, I wanted to sell the most books I want to impact the most people and by surround yourself with people that are getting the results you want, you can do it too.
Steve
That’s awesome. Well and and that mentoring coaching that digestion that ended up leading you to then saying, God, I want to do this more in groups. I remember you were doing the mastermind, you came up with that cool name of the Secret Knock and you want to make it kind of private. And like I said, I’ve known you for almost I think 15 years now and you’ve been doing Secret Knock for I don’t know how many years been doing you were just like in the midst of getting it started? I think. So Secret Knock has become its own beast. I mean, it’s like become its own thing. So can you talk to us about not only the evolution of your books, but how did Secret Knock come about? And how did some of these mentors and different people come into you getting them into rooms also have another way to help teach people and have them listen to other people, they’re doing cool things.
Greg
I use it as a multi leverage tool. So for example, you know, there’s one thing there’s a some of these old quotes we grew up with, I don’t necessarily believe anymore. Like, you know, it’s not the size, your television screen, it’s the size your library, I say BS to that, you know, they sit there and say, you know, no, I just don’t believe in a lot of these different things. And so for myself, and when we started doing Secret Knock, I surrounded myself with the people that were doing what I wanted to do. And I used it as a vehicle to interview some of the most amazing people, right? Say, Hey, I’m working on this new book project, I love to interview for it. And by the way, you might as well come out when I’m doing the secret not gonna do it live on stage. It’s like a two for one, right? So the audience got to experience it. They had a good joy from it. And I did. And I learned that from Bob Proctor, he said, The secret of success in this industry is that find a way to get paid money to do what you’re already going to do. And this is why since I’m already into this book, I can inspire more people, other people can have takeaways ask these people questions themselves and it’s a win win all around. Isn’t the best deals when everyone comes out and they feel like they got something out of it.
Steve
Yeah. And you’re a master that you’re really great about bringing people together and connecting and then finding win-win so that people get something out of it. And what’s interesting is all people have different things that they want sometimes going into it. And you have found an artful way of helping people find those things even though they’re completely different than might the others want. So you’re a good matchmaker, so I applaud you in that. And in these matchmaking things that you’ve done for people will pick up and connect them along the way and Secret Knock who surprised you the most that you thought would be just an okay guest but he was on the he or she was on the agenda that ended up just really blowing you away.
Greg
That that that’s harder to pick them my favourite book and believe it or not so you know doing a private Skype with Edward Snowden lights hiding in Russia in the middle of all that propaganda stuff with CNN and getting information directly from the source. Having Tonino Lamborghini, Mr. Lamborghini fly from Italy, and share and grace our stages where later on he and I toured India and, you know, impacted like, there’s been so many amazing takeaways. But this last one I just did Karl Kani. He’s one of the most incredible fashion designers that I never heard of, and we set on stage. And so I was introduced to him on stage at that time, and when the greatest interviews of my life because this guy blew my mind of how wise he was, and how we applied Street rules with business rules to create a brand new empire that’s gone on to impact the lives of many.
Steve
Wow, that’s amazing. Well, let’s come back and hear more about that from Mr. Greg Reid. Anybody that blows Greg’s mind, I know I want to hear more about I’m assuming you do as well. So you said Karl Kani, I’ve not heard of him either. So if you haven’t heard of Karl Kani and how to take streetwise and also wisdom and create success. Come back and hear more from Mr. Greg Reid. We’ll be right back on The Alchemy of Business. Thanks, everybody for listening. Okay, Aaron. All right. We’re good so far. Yep. And so on this segment, we’re gonna finish a little bit on this, I then want to go a little bit in from Secret Knock into prosperity camp. And then during the segment, I’m also going to talk about Colt and Frank which are some also people that in different ways have been affected by Greg’s path in life. So I want to get into some of the connections you have in relationships, Greg, on how like even with your mom being one of your your groupies and your speakers at the same time and your events and those kinds of things want to get into that later in the segment. But let’s start out with this Karl Kani and then also what you learned from him and how people can adapt that in their life. Okay. Alright guys, so 10 Nine, eight. And welcome back to The Alchemy of Business. We were talking with Mr. Greg Reid about Secret Knock about stickability. And I was asking him about one of his guests that may be surprising the Most. We’re going to come back now and talk about his Secret Knock event. We’re gonna be talking about his prosperity camp as well. But I guess it he brought up I had not heard of either. So great. You were telling us about a gentleman you met Mr. Karl Kani, who I think he said was a designer but that somehow he amazed you that you so tell us more about that. And what can the audience learn from you and from him?
Greg
Well, he was the godfather or is the godfather of streetwear modern day street wherever they you see all the kids were and he had everyone from 2Pac to Biggie to, you know, all the celebrities from Jay Z and Beyonce to Tiger Woods, everyone was wearing his clothing. And the way he did it was just that guerilla marketing is out on the streets and getting it on people and having them share the word. And the way he came up with his last name of Kani. That’s not his real name is because he says I can. And it was Kani. And when you start Googling, it’s gonna blow your mind. And the way that he like literally came from the projects in the roughest part of town. And he impacted the lives using the street smarts and his business parts and combine the two to create an empire that’s worth zillions of dollars. But so many people whose lives have been impacted by what he did in the way he did it.
Steve
Wow, that’s amazing. Well, I love people that are that do what they love, and they find a way to make money of it from it. And you know, I’m curious with you, you have an Erin on my producer if you could pop up as Greg and I are talking in the next minute or two some visuals on either and or his Secret Knock but also his prosperity camp I want to go into. But in Secret Knock it led you to having you understanding that people wanted to learn to do their passion, they wanted to do their business, they wanted to learn how to make stuff happen. I remember you learning along the way that to give people practical advice, but also not to kind of squelch their dreams. But you also started reaching out as you did to billionaires, millionaires, and you started interviewing people along the way, not only for Secret Knock, but also I think you created a book series and events called about prosperity. So I want to talk to you about Secret Knock evolving to prosperity. And what’s the difference between both and and what are people gonna learn from from these events?
Greg
Yeah, I feel like you set me up on a little T ball right there. It’s pretty awesome. So the way we did even Secret Knock, and we do prosperity camp is it’s to George Costanza, opposite day. If you ever watched Seinfeld back in that time, and the concept is instead of having this typical flyer, where you have a little circle, and here’s who’s going to be there, and here’s what you’re gonna learn. We did the opposite. We basically said we’re the greatest event You cannot go to your no you can’t go are sold out every time you can’t go, you have to know someone and you have to fill out an application. As you know, Steve, you can’t even buy a ticket, you have to go through a process. And by doing that, we had a filter system where we started inviting positive like minded people who got us. And we made a tribe of positive like minded individuals. So when people come to our events, forget the speakers, the other people in the audience that you’re hanging out with, and you’re connecting and networking with, that’s where the multimillion dollar ideas and brands start transpiring. That’s where movies are made, marriages come from, it’s just absolutely spectacular.
Greg
So Secret Knock is a large scale, you know, 300 plus person event, where we introduce you to the most amazing human beings alive, but it costs three grand to go. And we don’t tell you where it is, or who will be there. Very secret. What is the city state and the date so you can book a flight, that’s it. And then right before we start dripping, so you can make a hotel room nearby. And then the locations drip last minute, so when people can’t stop it. And by doing that, we’ve kept it very exclusive. And then prosperity camp is limited. Only 40 people here at my personal home in Carlsbad, California. I got a cool little estate here. So we all come together. And I bring in people that are very prosperous minded. And what that means is, you know, people pull up in the Rolls Royces and things of this nature. And they say, forget how great I am. Let me show you how we did this. And they give you the blueprint. And they say they talk about, you know, these offshore accounts. What does that really mean? And how does gold work? And by the way, everyone talks about making money on Pay Per Click on internet, how does that really work? We bring in the world’s top thought leader. And what happens when we start breaking out in these little pods where you sit there and say, Look, I want to know what this NFT thing everyone’s talking about. And we go over and George Channels, the former attorney general of Nevada, who’s now becoming the world authority, says this is exactly what non fungible token is, here’s how it works. Here’s how you buy one, here’s how it operates. Here’s how the system is going towards it. And then they do a whole thing and you go to another group and another group. So prosperity camp is a small intimate version of I call it you know, Secret Knock on steroids.
Steve
That’s awesome. Well, and again, your your brain these how to do it, you’re like pulling back the curtain kind of The Wizard of Oz, and really giving people an open way to be able to make their own creation. And you know that I my company, and my show is called Alchemy and alchemy is about formulas and the different pieces that you have to have of ingredients to make things happen. And you do a great job of helping to pick those apart to create their own formula. But you also with these people that are doing at a very high level, it’s amazing that they’re coming and willing to share kind of the secret sauce. So do you find that that is also like you said, some of the successful people are most easy to get to? Are you finding that people that are successful in prosperity, whether in monetary, or goodwill or status? Are they also willing to come and share as freely as one on one?
Greg
They’re extremely well? Are you coming to prosperity camp?
Steve
Yeah, you’ve got me down and I am hearing of course you aren’t? The answer.
Greg
There it is. It’s so funny because one guy had come in His name’s Brian. I won’t say his last name. You know, he’s a gazillionaire. And I said, How do you make all your money in dirt? He goes, Oh, that’s easy. Time plus land is wealth. I go explain it. He goes out look for a town anywhere in the world that growing exponentially. 25% go on Google Maps, it’s free. He goes, I look for Broadway, Main Street and I take a pencil and I draw a line out eight miles, I buy that dirt. I rent that dirt to farmers, they pay the least. So it’s free land, and I get vegetables for years, as a town continues to grow at 25% eventually ends up on my plot. And since I own the biggest amount of land because of my farm on there, I resold that to the big box stores for 800 times what I paid, a billion dollars. The next person comes in says here’s how it works. Even Lamborghini I go how in the world did you guys do what you did without commercials. And he says all you have to do is create a product, good service or experience that people save their money to happily hand it over to you. They go What do you mean, he goes, No one’s gonna save their money to buy your book, right? He goes, but they’ll cash in their 401k to drive my car. He goes, No one’s gonna pay $3,000 a night to live in your own apartment. But you’re gonna cash in the family vacation fund to go to Anaheim and give it to a mouse with big ears. He goes if you can create your own version of a product good service or experience that people gave the money to give to you, you’ll never run out of cash. That explains Secret Knock that explains prosperity camp that explains why these people are doing something a little bit different.
Steve
That’s awesome. Well, and it’s that formula. I mean, you’re you’re giving people formulas and how tos and practical ways to do it in different modalities from health to tech to Bitcoin. So and you probably have found some common themes, you know, they all phrases businesses, business people or people love is love even though those are all nuances. Have you yourself changed your definition of success or prosperity, why digesting all this and sharing it with others? Like, what’s the definition of your success now versus say 10 years ago? Prosperity? Well,
Greg
yeah, it is. It is. You open a can of worms. And I don’t know how much time we got for this one, but completely different. So my entire life’s paradigm has changed.
Steve
Okay, let’s stop there then because I want to cut when you just said my entire life paradigm, we only have 30 seconds left. So for the listeners there, Greg Reid is going to tell you how his entire life paradigm is shift around success, prosperity, and I want to hear that myself. So stay tuned for those listening in here on The Alchemy of Business. Mr. Greg Reid, we are going to be right back and hear more from him. Thanks, everybody. Okay, cool. Yeah, everything good? Yeah, everything’s good. So this last segment, we’re gonna do this topic, then we’re gonna roll into Make a wish. I want to talk a little about cold and we’re going to do some IGI stuff, and that’ll probably take us the full 12 minutes. It’s okay. Yeah. All right, guys do the same thing. Great competition. Welcome back to The Alchemy of Business. As I said, we are here with Mr. Greg Reid. And again, I’m thrilled to have him we could talk for hours, but we only have a few minutes left on the show this segment. So I’m going to make it really meaty. Greg was saying before the break I asked him about has his definition of prosperity or success changed over the last 10 years, and I thought it’d be a fairly quick answer. And he said, my entire paradigm is shifted. I’m like, Okay, let’s take a break. Let’s come back to that. So Greg, tell us what that is all about. Tell me about that.
Greg
Okay, so when I got divorced, and the most amazing ex wife in the world, I know people find that hard to believe, but I love her. And I realised we’re split everything up. I said, I should have more money than this. And I realised all my books are about, you know, never giving up personal achievement. They weren’t about wealth and prosperity. And so I started asking these millionaires and billionaires like you said, how they did it. What’s the wealth hack? And I wrote a book, A Walk Made Easy. It’s been translated to so many different languages. But there’s one takeaway changed everything for me. I sat down with a guy worth many, many billions of dollars. And I said, Why is it you’re so wealthy, you’re so prosperous, but I am not. He looked me dead in the eye and said, that’s easy. It’s because you believe the BS that you’re spreading to the world. He goes, we thank you for it. And we hope you’ll continue that journey. Wow. And it goes, You’re the greatest purveyor of the greatest lie that’s ever been told. I said, What is it? And he said, to go find your passion and the money will follow. He goes, will you please tell people that? And I said, What do you mean, he pulled out my phone and on there was a meme and it said, Follow your passion and not a paycheck. And it goes, and then you wonder why you’re broke, you idiot, huh, wow. And he says, Look, he goes, you can find somebody who’s passionate. For example, they’re a welder that worked their entire life. They worked for 30 years, and then they retire to get some money, go to a Tony Robbins seminar. They’re all excited. They go find their passion, they open a yoghurt shop. Now 95% of businesses fail the first year not because they’re not passionate, not because they don’t have initial capital. It’s because he’s a welder. Not a yoghurt person that goes but unfortunately, they’re so attached to this passion attitude in this their baby mentality, that when they go underneath, they’re holding on to that anchor, it pulls them down, and it takes their car and their hearts and their boat and their everything with it goes. We go in there and we buy that for pennies on the dollar. He goes, keep that up, keep those bumper stickers rolling. And it goes we’re like a game of Frogger we ride a walk. And as soon as that dips, we jump to the next log. He goes we can never go down with the ship because it’s just business. He goes create so much wealth and so much prosperity, that we have so much abundance that we use that to then go finance our passion. He goes you guys do it in reverse. He goes but every millionaire that’s ever been a millionaire lots of money, did it following their passion. But you’ve never found a billionaire who lost all their money because they think like a business person. He goes, let me tell you, well, newsflash, he goes the sheiks out in the desert in Saudi Arabia and the Gettys that built America, they had no passion for crude oil under their feet. And guess what waste management has no passion for dirty diapers and rotten cheese. And guess what the aggregate dealers have no passion for sand and gravel that built the freeways yet they built every university the college the valet everything you know and love was built based with that mentality. He goes we own the coliseums and the football teams that people fall in their passion are giving their brain matter on the field for a few million bucks. It goes if you can just switch that mentality just a little bit. You might just get wealthy too.
Steve
wow that’s intense. Hey, Aaron, can you pop up that picture that I we had a Greg that him jumping in the pool with a suit because it’s this is totally changing. You’re like you This is like boom, jump in the deep end of the pool, like change your thinking, you know, change your paradigm. Whatever you thought was so This is Greg now shifting his paradigm what he’s learned from millionaires and mentors about now. But he’s now gone through the rain into a big huge lake of prosperity. So did you take that advice to heart and how could you implement What? What have you learned?
Greg
Immediately? So for example, he says, Look, he goes, here’s your thing, go, I’ll change your mindset right now. He goes, You see someone that wants to sell a plane, someone that wants to buy a plane, they go to your event, I go, what do you do? And they go, I introduced them. He goes, That’s right. And that’s why you’ll never have prosperity. Like what? He goes, here’s what I do. I go, the guy says, Hey, I don’t know anyone that wants to buy a plane. But if I find you a buyer, can I get a commission on that sale? He’s gonna say, Heck, yeah, I want to get rid of this plane. Then I go to the other guy says, hey, if I find you a plane to buy notes, your dream? Can I get a free airline ticket to Hawaii? Heck, yeah, I’ve always wanted to go to my own plane, then I introduce you go, same exact outcome, except one’s wealth mindset and one’s not. And the moment that we started having that type of clarity in our conversations, things started opening.
Steve
Yeah, clarity, that touch, that clarity, the actions taking the steps are key. And I know that you’re instilling that also into your son. I saw some posts that you did the other day, and I haven’t seen him in a while with COVID. And all the stuff that he called, is really growing up into a young entrepreneurs himself. But I saw something about him farming out, cleaning his room and different things that he’s learning from you. So how has it been having a son a in this path that you’re on where you’re on this? This student mindset, and then you have a son, where you’re supposed to be the teacher, dad, and you’re all the students, so is Colt following in your footsteps in this learning that you didn’t know, at his age,
Greg
to the highest possible degree and a scary as all get out. So what you’re alluding to is recently, you know, we’re having a party and I say, Colt, go, go make your bed, clean up your room, we got a bunch of people coming over. And one of his friends comes out of his room 30 minutes later with a handful of money. And I said, Where’d you get that money? It goes like got from your son, I go from what he goes, Well, he paid me I go for what he goes, Oh, I made his bed and cleaned out his stuff. I go cold. Why did you do that? I told you to do it. He says, No, Dad, you taught me to work my strengths and hire my weaknesses. I had other things to do. And it just changed the paradigm. But more importantly, recently, I’ve changed everything in the way I treat him. As a father, son, I’ll give an example. Most people give their kids money to do things they don’t like to do, like pull weeds, make your bed and you know, do laundry. And we realise that we’re training our kids from the earliest memory, the only way to make money is to do something what that they hate. So I changed that paradigm. And I said, Colt, you’re really good at these internet means in these videos, I got a million followers. Now from now on, I’m gonna start rewarding in your allowance for doing these for me. And by the way to live in this estate and your lifestyle, why you do these things, that’s contribution, giving back to the family. The moment we change that paradigm, everything changed. So now when he wants something, he comes up to me and never says, you know, I can’t afford something. He goes, Hey, Dad, how can I afford this? How many memes will it take for me to get this? Wow, everything
Steve
that does change it? Well, I know you and Alen, have raised him to be a big minded thinker and a giver. But yet, you know, he’s not going to have empty pockets for sure. He’s going to be an entrepreneur that learns probably earlier than you and I did, about how to have that balance of life of success, prosperity, but also being of giving of service and servant leadership, because he sees that from you all the time. So I’m so glad you have that relationship. He’s part of that. And also your mom. On the other spectrum. I mean, here, you’re a mom and a son when I met you, and your mom sometimes was on your stages, or she’d be one of your groupies in the audience like cheering you on. So how has your relationship with your mom and your son changed or evolved with all these things are learning? Are you are you finding that these things and people and lessons are really changing the dynamics within your family as well?
Greg
Yeah, and a lot of it, you know, the student becomes the master and then you just watch, you know, swap roles as you go. You know, it’s one of the coolest little experiences because you don’t always want to be the smartest person in the group. So it’s kind of cool to have that yin yang everything we do even Colt going back to that stuff. You know, when he was young when he was like seven, now he’s nine, you know, he got some money. And I remember I asked him what he wanted to do with it. And so this equipment in the bank, he goes now he goes this crypto stuff. So we opened up a little you know, Coinbase thing and dumped the money in there and you buy some bitcoin. And now my son and coming up on age 10 will be probably worth six figures. Because he jumped on something earlier than I didn’t hear and say and it’s so interesting to see the next generation where we had a grind to make our dough. I don’t think they’re gonna have that same type of thing. They’re gonna have a different set of tools.
Steve
Yeah, that’s awesome on especially with you helping lead the way with some of this younger generation. They’re going to learn that well. We got about five minutes left and I want to dovetail into when you’re talking about mentoring. The I don’t know if he was like a father figure to you or not, but I know it was a great mentor and friend of yours And Frank Shankwoods. That helped. Originally I mean, he was a policeman, but he helped really found build and originate, Make A Wish Foundation, which you then went on to do his life story. Wish man. And I know Frank recently passed, but you had this, I want to talk about Frank and your relationship with him, how that came about. And then also how you led into not only meeting him, but deciding to help him create his dream. And then you stepped into becoming a feature film, Executive Producer, etc. So how do you step into these new places that you haven’t gone before? And let’s talk about Frank and the movie,
Greg
asking the right questions. So we’re at Secret Knock. And I asked Frank found or make a wish, what his wish was, and he goes, what? I go, Yeah, I’m just curious, what did you ask for? And he goes, Well, no one asked me. I says, Well, I want to be the guy who grants the wish of the founder make a wish, what do you want, he says, I just want my story to be told so my grandkids will know I did something. So he signed over his life rights. And they said, I’ll make into a movie just No, I’ve never made a movie. And it took six years and trials and tribulations. And it came out in 2019, and hit out and 20. And unfortunately, COVID hits, so didn’t get the full spectrum of the reality that we toured on Netflix for a year and a half or streaming worldwide. And we’re actually on the ballot, the final ballot of the Oscars of that season. So it’s pretty special.
Steve
I remember seeing you guys on the green, the red carpet and being in the south. And I know, Frank had to just be in His glory, what a great gift you helped bring to him. And I know there’s a lot of people involved in that. But you’re putting it out there. And a dream written down with a date becomes a goal, a goal broken down into steps becomes a plan and a plan backed by action becomes your dreams come true. And you help that for Frank and yourself. What do you miss the most about Frank, now that he’s passed,
Greg
he was kind of a comadron and I liked it. It’s so cool. You can call that guy and he could give you a different point of view based on his expertise, knowledge, wisdom and experience. That guy had lived an incredible life. And he’s got so much information that you can call the guy up and within a few minutes that you can give them all the information and he’ll give you feedback from a different perspective than I’d have in my own. And I always love that.
Steve
That’s wonderful. And what did you learn that what surprised you the most about becoming a filmmaker? Because you had done a film before? But it was more like a kind of a documentary? Right? More like a? Yeah, so and you probably learned similar things. But I’m curious in this feature film, Hollywood kind of stuff. What did you learn the most that surprised you the most?
Greg
Hollywood just in general. It’s such an interesting, different town. And you know, so much. Right now. I’m making three more movies. And I’m going through the process, taking what I’ve learned and hopefully expanding on it. But I wish I would have learned a few things earlier. So in Hollywood a yes is a no, a no is a no, and a maybe is what you’re looking for. That would have saved me years alone. But I unfortunately, I’m from San Diego when someone says yeah, maybe we’re gonna make you stop. I actually believed it because yes is a yes. But yes, was it? No.
Steve
And it’s crazy.
Greg
I just wish I would have known that code earlier would have saved me years.
Steve
But now you have your own star. I mean, who would have known long ago, I had to ask you for an autograph. Let’s do that. Again. There’s Greg sitting on his own star there. Las Vegas, he actually has Greg S. Reid, on the pavement of the select. So how did that come about?
Greg
Yeah. And so I nominated Frank, to get a star on the Walk of Fame, they gave it to him. And they said, Greg, you’re doing so many things, we’d like to give you one, two. And so that’s how it is. So I’m three from Frank six from Elvis Presley. And just this week, I was asked actually to serve on the Board of Directors of the Las Vegas Walker star. So I’ll be helping nominate and bring new people in as we go.
Steve
Awesome. Well, as we’ve got a few minutes here to wrap up, I want to take all of this and boil it down into you’ve done a lot of amazing things as having you know the stars on on the sidewalk and meeting celebrities. But really, your soul and your heart is really something that I see that continues to evolve and grow. And I’m curious in my own work that I’m doing right now in the IGI principles and inviting good in or inviting Grayson versus edging it out. I’m just curious in your own life. How do you define your G meaning inviting God in, good, greatness, grace? How do you define your own G? And how are you finding that you’re not sure what you talked about today is incorporating that good in the world. But I’d like to talk about your own IGI moments and your own IGI principles in your own life and wrapping up on that topic.
Greg
Well, first of all it to me it’s just energy. So that’s what it is, is inviting good energy and and expecting good energy. It’s so interesting. I look at it this way. If I went to your house with a trash bag full of dirty diapers and rotten cheese, and I started dumping it out, the first thing you’re going to do or your wife is going to do is say stop. What are you doing? Get the hell out of my house. Yeah, for some reason, we’ll let people open our brains dump in there, and we just sit and take it, not me. So as soon as people start putting their negative energy around me, I have that same attitude as that trash bag, I go, Whoa, thought, I appreciate what you’re going through, make sure you go find someone you can share that with, I got to focus over here so I can inspire some people. And by having those boundaries, all of a sudden that doors of opportunity, I’m only inviting the goodness in now.
Steve
I love that well, inviting the goodness said, while you’re doing a lot of that, Mr. Greg Reid, and we appreciate you being on the show and all that you do for the world. We showed some of Greg’s sites and stuff earlier, but we’re gonna make sure that’s all in the show notes. But you can reach him at GregSReid.com. Or if he does a Google Greg Reid, I don’t even think you need the S anymore. You become so popular. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna make sure you’re in the show notes. And Greg with his events, his films, His books, His speaking will continue to inspire the world. So we want to thank you, Greg, for all that you shared today with our audience. And thank you those that listened in and we’re on the show of The Alchemy of Business, and we will make sure that this show gets distributed. So all of you can take advantage of Greg’s wise words. Thank you, Mr. Reid.
Greg
See you later. Thanks for having me on, brother.
Steve
Alrighty. Take care. Thank you.
