The Power of Taking Action with Greg Reid

Intro (00:09):
Welcome to innovations and breakthroughs with your host, rich Goldstein, talking about the evolutionary, the revolutionary, the inspiration and the perspiration and those aha that change everything. And now here’s your host, Rich Goldstein.

Rich (00:33):
Rich Goldstein here, the host of the innovations and breakthroughs podcasts, where I feature top leaders in the path they took to create change. Pasts include Joe Paul Roland, Fraser, and Rick Zari. This episode is brought to you by, by my company, Goldstein patent law, where we help you to protect your ideas and products we’ve advised and obtain patents for thousands of companies over the past 27 years. So if you’re a company that has software product or design, you want protected go to Goldstein patent law.com, whether our amazing free resources for learning about the patent for process, and you could email my team at welcome Goldstein, pc.com to explore. If it’s a match to work together, you could also check out the book I wrote for the American bar association that explains in plain English, how patents work it’s called the ABA consumer guide to obtaining a patent.

Rich (01:17):
I have with me here today, Greg Reid, the, to characterize Greg Reid as a motivational would just be scratching the surface of who this amazing human is. Although it is difficult to listen to Greg and not feel motivated. In fact, over the past 25 years, he’s inspired millions of people to step into their greatness. Just last week I saw Greg speak and from just his 20 minute presentation, I took nine pages of notes. Uh, Greg is the founder of an event called seek knock, which focuses on partnership, networking and business development and where he’s featured billionaires, celebrities, presidents, inventors, and Oscar winners. In that regard last week, he said something of secret knock that I really loved. He said, we don’t take pictures in front of Lamborghini. We bring Mr. Lamborghini to speak. So I’m looking forward to checking out that event. Uh, Greg is also a filmmaker. He produced the film Wishman that tells the story of the creator of the make or wish foundation. Uh, doctor Greg Reid has published co-authored and be feature and been featured in over a hundred books, including 28 bestsellers, including three feet from gold and his most recent title wealth made easy. He’s been honored for his work in mentoring youth at the white house. So I’m very pleased to welcome here today. My friend Gregory Reid welcome Greg,

Greg (02:32):
And then the crowds go wild. So I, okay. I gotta talk. Talk about Lamborghini <laugh> yes. So he and I toured India together because it was one of my bucket list items to get honorary PhD, cuz I apparently graduated high school. And so the deal was, if we did the commencement speeches throughout the entire nation, we got these little degrees. So we did, it was amazing, but I asked him a question. I go, how did you and your dad create such a legacy of no commercials, but you guys, you know, sold the Lamber brand. And he said, all you have to do is create a product, good or service that people save their money to happily handed to you. And I said, what do you mean? He goes, no, one’s gonna save their money to buy your book, read. He goes, but they’ll catch in their 401k to drive a car. He goes, you’ll never spend $4,000 a night deliver in your own apartment, but you’ll happily cash in the family vacation fund, go to Anaheim and give it to a mouse of big years. He goes, if you can create a product, good service or experience that people save their money to give to you, you’ll never run out cash.

Rich (03:33):
Hmm. Yeah. That’s that’s great advice. I mean, it, it really is. It’s, it’s a matter of like when it’s value to the level that, um, that it goes beyond what you could afford presently, it’s something you aspire to then you’ve created a big value, I guess, is a way to look at that, right?

Greg (03:51):
Yeah, absolutely. And it was really cool cuz he came to secret knock a few years ago and he was so proud. He, he came out with the Lamborghini, uh, to Lamborghini watch and he gave me one on stage, but we couldn’t figure out how to make it work. It was brand new. He didn’t even see it. So he felt embarrassed and he took off his personal watch. I got it upstairs with his birthday engrave. So I’ve got actually some people got a Lamborghini. I have his personal watch.

Rich (04:15):
Wow. Awesome. Uh, I I’d like to, you know, I’d like to talk a little bit about 10 action because I know it, it’s something that you have, uh, a lot to say about and you inspire a lot of people to take action. And uh, and a lot of my audience are people that have ideas that they are looking to pursue in the world. And very often they don’t know what action to take. Uh, but um, it, it, it’s not, it’s not knowing what action to take that they might say keeps them from taking action. And I think, um, I think you, you call that the one size, right?

Greg (04:50):
Yeah, that’s right. You know, it’s a bad case of the one size. Once I get the kids outta the house, <laugh> once I get the big break and the best time to take actions is a moment you feel it, you think it, you emotionalize it, you take action and you do it. Uh, Truit, Kathy founder of Chick-fil-A. I asked him a question one time. I says, why are you a multi-billionaire? And most of us aren’t I go, what can we do differently? And here’s his answer, stop over planning. And I go, what do you mean? He says, well, he goes, if I’m on the sofa at my house and I wanna get to the end of the street that’s goal, but I have to look for and capitalize on unexpected opportunities. He says, you see a, planner’s gonna think everything through where are they gonna stop and take a break. But if a sprinkler comes on and it’s not part of their strategy, they’re gonna run back home. Not me. He goes, I’m looking for opportunity. Did a kid leave a skateboard or a bicycle out that I could borrow to make my short to the end of the street. If I get lucky, I’ll wave down a neighbor driving by. He says either way, I’ll get to my goal. I’m just not so caught up in exactly how it has to transpire.

Rich (05:54):
Yeah. Interesting. And so it, it is a matter of, I guess, chunking, chunking it down and not, uh, you know, the example that I, I gave of people that have an idea and they’re looking to have the whole plan in order to take action. And I guess the truth is, is you’re alluding to, is like, you can’t have the whole plan and if you’re gonna wait until you have a whole plan in place, then you’re never going to take action.

Greg (06:16):
Yeah. And timing is never, right. I mean the there’s never a perfect time to have a kid or to, you know, have a situation arise, but you take advantage of it. And we are evolutionary animals. Every time I’ve crashed a car, I got a better car. Every time I got, you know, a girl broke up with me, I got a better girl. So every time something happens to me, I’m the weird person goes, woo man, something good must be coming. But how many times have we had a million dollar idea in the shower? And by the time we brush our teeth, it’s down the drain only to see it on a billboard 10 years later thinking, Hey, I had that idea. The only difference is they took action. You have to think it, feel it, get off your backside and you got how to do it.

Rich (06:58):
Yeah. And, and, uh, you don’t necessarily need to know how to do it. And it it’s, I think a perfect illustration of that is story you told about, um, about how you got to make the movie about the creative of the Make-A-Wish foundation and you had him on stage and you asked him someone who had granted wishes to, um, scores of people. You asked him, well, what’s your wish. And, uh, as you told it, he said, no one had ever asked me that before. Right. And, and then a after that, um, you know, you, um, he, I mean, he had said that, that he wanted his story to be told. And so you, without knowing how to make a film, you commit to make the film, the story about how he created Make-A-Wish foundation. And, uh, and I think that’s a great illustration. So kind of what was that journey like?

Greg (07:49):
And, and by the way, he did take notes. <laugh> like that. So, yeah, it was interesting. He says, I just want my story to be told

Rich (07:57):
Pages and pages. Yeah. That’s awesome.

Greg (07:58):
And goes, so my grandkids will know I did something. So he signed over his life rights and I said, Frank, I go, I’ll make it into a movie. Just know I’ve never made a movie. Uh, but he trusted me. And it took six years in trials and tribulations. But when it came out in 2019, we were on the short, actual final ballot for the Oscars. We were on Netflix for a year. And, and now we’re trending worldwide. And people say, well, how’d you get started. Must have been easy for you. Well, I didn’t know how to get started, but I got started. I took an ad out in a secretive website called Craigslist for a, you know, a screenwriter and a guy answered the ad, ended up writing the screenplay, directing the movie, producing it. And when we won awards around the world and the moral being is that you can never let another person or yourself talk you out of something that you know, to be true.

Greg (08:50):
Look, if you’re sitting there thinking, Hey, I’ve got an idea and I’ve been sitting on it, when’s the best time to take action. Do I need all this money? Do I need all the exact, how to put the formula together? The answer is no. The answer is to surround yourself with people that are getting the results you want, successful people, seek counsel and failures, listen to a opinion. If I go to a family friend and say, I’m gonna write a best selling book, they might try to talk me out of it to protect me cuz I’m dyslexic. And they’ve never written a bestselling book. If I go to Jack Campfield who wrote chicken soup for the soul, he’s gonna say, Greg, here’s what you need to know and give you counsel, if we would spend our daily activities only seeking counsel and ignoring opinion, that’s also the same day our lives would change.

Rich (09:35):
Yeah. And in terms of seeking those people out, I think that’s another place where people get stuck is like, um, knocking is if you’re pursuing an invention, you’re pursuing an idea. Um, if you’re pursuing a path like the one you described, you need to knock on some doors and sometimes those doors are, are pretty big doors, right? The, you know, the big doors, like the ones that lead to of the wizard of Oz, you know, like with, uh, well, I’ll leave the giant knockers, like joke behind with young Frankenstein, but basically, you know, big, giant doors you have to knock on and it could be intimidating. And um, and, and there’s something, um, you said last week, I found fascinating about the power of specificity, where you, where with the right request, you can get people to do exactly what you need.

Greg (10:23):
Yeah. And you know, it’s interesting when, when it comes down to that and young Frankenstein, uh, little idea there, I, I, I love that role in the hay. I mean, I, I get that outta my head. So when, when I wanna reach out to people, I realized that the most successful people are also the most available people. The fact is it’s easier to get to the founder, for example, of Remax real estate empire, a trillion dollar enterprise than your local Remax president down the street. And so the whole idea is I understood you jumped to the front of the line and deal with specificity. So if I wanna get to the founder of, you know, for example, uh, the NASCAR I’ll reach out and say, Hey, I’m working on a new project. It’s called, uh, you know, stickability the power to persevere. I need 12.5 minutes.

Greg (11:10):
I’ll cover all my own price, expense cost to get to you from the moment I open the door, I’ll start a stopwatch, I’ll leave 12 and a half minutes. I’m gonna ask you one question why you didn’t quit. When the going got tough, the chance of him coming down from his office down to the break room to do that is so high because it’s specific. But unfortunately, most people say, Hey, I wanna pick your brain. Hey, I wanna take you out to lunch. Hey, I wanna buy you coffee. Hey, I wanna be of service. Hey, I wanna be a country. It’s very, but most people don’t have that time and energy. So with specificity, all of a sudden those doors of opportunity, those big doors will suddenly sling open. Yeah.

Rich (11:47):
Yeah. I love it. Uh, and um, you know, um, IP is a big theme for me, obviously as a patent attorney and, uh, and kind of the, the focus of the podcast is on innovation. Although of course my background is, is IP law. And, uh, and I like to tell stories about where IP has made a difference. So in your career, where have you seen, or any examples that you’ve seen of where owning the, I P made a difference for someone in, in achieving what they were allowed to achieve?

Greg (12:17):
Yeah. I, I put it in my daily life. I mean every single day. So when I’m writing, you know, I’ve been published 128 books, 45 languages have a star on the walk of fame. And every one of those is IP. It’s all copy written law. And more importantly, um, you know, when I, at my events, for example, you mentioned secret knock, well that’s trademark, right? So I’ve make sure I do that. Um, all the way down to some of the amazing friends that we’ve met along the time when I met the founder, for example of Pictionary, I believe you met him last week as well, Rob angel. Well, of course they have to patent trademark copyright all their different product so that they have, you know, exclusivity so that they can bring that to the marketplace, knowing that they’re the ones getting there first. So I think it’s very important to put it out. And a lot of times people say they’re gonna do that last, but I believe that’s one of the things they wanted to lead with, at least in my counsel, in my experience. So I make sure I always, you know, take action and let the legal follow. But more importantly, when it comes down to IP, I put the, the, the attorneys out front because I wanna make sure what I’m saying. I actually have the rights to put out there.

Rich (13:23):
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. And I think that’s great advice. Um, let’s talk about secret knock. So it’s an event and you do it. How often per year do you do?

Greg (13:35):
Yeah. It’s like once, twice a year kind of depends upon the year. Uh, you know, people are hunkering to get out right now. So I’ll probably do it twice this year, cuz of everything being shut down for a while. And it’s really interesting. It’s known as Forbes Inc entrepreneurs. Uh, and now we’re teamed up with success magazines, top event for business leaders. And it’s known as the greatest event. You cannot attend. I’ll say it again. It’s the greatest event you cannot attend. No one, you can’t just go to a website and gimme money to go to it. Doesn’t work that way. You have to go to a website and you have to fill out an application and I ask two questions. What do you bring of contribution to our community? And more importantly, what can our community bring of contribution to you? And once we know that and have a conversation and make sure we could build a win, win relationship, then only then will we accept a $3,000 payment to go?

Greg (14:27):
And here’s where it gets good. I still will not tell you where it is or who will be there. I only tell you the city, the state and the date. And that said, and as we get closer, I drip that information only to our community. So people just don’t show up outta the blue. And it’s important for that. So for example, you know, when I did a private Skype with Edward Snowden hiding in Russia, I made sure that no one could come in an SROP. You know, when I president Viente Fox, come talk about how George Bush tried to get him to go to war in Iraq and wouldn’t do it all the way down to these amazing people. Uh, we wanna make sure we’re surrounding ourselves with positive, like of mind people that understand us because we’re all about doing and not just talking.

Rich (15:06):
Yeah. Wow. Sounds like, sounds like quite a group, quite an event. Uh, and I think the next one’s coming up in March.

Greg (15:13):
Yeah, March 21, the 23 you’re coming. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s gonna be, it’s really cool. Our concept was what would it be like instead of hanging out with coaches, teachers and mentors, you just hung out with the person who did what everyone else is talking about,

Rich (15:27):
Right? Like not the people that, that tell you how to do it. The people that actually did it. Exactly.

Greg (15:32):
So again, people come there and they’re saying, Hey, I, I wanna do some IP law and they can pull you aside and have some tacos in a cocktail and you can explain exactly how it’s done. That’s pretty awesome. And then if that leads to business awesome, but it’s not like a pitch or sales Fest. It’s a bunch of like-minded people helping one, another people that

Rich (15:48):
Actually do things, sharing how they yeah.

Greg (15:51):
Yes. And sharing context connections. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you know, without an alternative motive. And it’s so neat. You’ve never seen such great stuff as when someone’s standing in line for something and they’re going, Hey, I’m working on this and say, oh, I know someone can help you. And they pull out their cell phones and they do a connection right then and there to me, that’s, that’s why we created our events and our community and how it’s expanded, how like it has so far.

Rich (16:15):
Yeah. Yeah. It sounds amazing. I’m really looking forward to it. And um, let’s see. So if, um, if people wanna learn more about you or get in touch with you, how they go about doing so,

Greg (16:26):
Uh, I mean there’s millions of social media, but I’m big on Instagram of all things for an old guy. I love it. I got I’m million followers on there. And if you DM me directly, it comes right to me. It doesn’t go to a bot to my receptionist or anything like that. And it’s Greg S Reid, Greg S Reid. It goes directly to me, DM me. The only thing is I don’t talk about the weather, which a for dinner, the family pet. But if you sit there and say, Hey, what’s a good business book I should read. Or who do you have a great connection that I should, uh, no, right now I promise I’ll get back to those right away.

Rich (16:57):
Yeah, that sounds great. And, and I was gonna wrap it up, but you just reminded me of, of there was a great quote. You said about, um, two things that change, um, that make a difference in your life. The people you made in the books you’ve read.

Greg (17:10):
Yeah. Charlie, tremendous Jones said that we are the same as we’ll be in five years, except for two things. The people you meet and the books you read, it’s who you hang out with. It’s what you put in your head that determines or characters a person. So in high school, if you hang around smokers, you’re a smoker. You around jocks, you’re a jock. Same thing implies today. Look around. If we hang around people that complain gripe and moan, that’s your fault. If we hang around people that are positive and solution searching, then that too will be a introduction of how your brain operates, surround yourself with people that are getting the results you want. Eventually you can do it too.

Rich (17:45):
Well. I think that’s perfect. Cuz Greg, I’m glad that I got to meet you. And I’m looking forward to reading some of those books that you recommend. Uh, and I really appreciate you taking the time to do this interview and be on this program.

Greg (17:56):
Absolutely. And I’m gonna share one final little nugget with everybody. You know, it’s really interesting to understand the power of having an idea and take an action. Even out of fear. One of my favorite interviews I did with a guy, Steve wa uh, he created apple computers with jobs and I said, how did you guys come up with this idea? I mean, what made you do it? And he says, we embraced our lack. I go, what do you mean? He goes, we embraced what we did not have. Everyone’s always wanting everything to be perfect. He goes, we ran toward an opportunity. I said, well, gimme an example. He said, when these little microchip processors came out, they were very expensive. He goes, we can only afford one. After jobs sold this car. And I sold my calculator, we pulled their money to buy one. He go, but Hiller Packard would make machines that go from point a to B, with 20 chips.

Greg (18:45):
They had all the money of God. He said, so I pull away five and get that same machine to go from a, to B with 15, I pull away five, get it to work with 10. Eventually I figured out a way to go from a to B using our one chip. He says, we were not trying to be innovative or cool or aerodynamic or slick. He goes, we can afford one chip. He said, but by embracing that as an opportunity, we also found the shortest cleanest path. And by doing that, we changed the way people do personal computing for the rest of the world, for the rest of their life. He said, where could you be right now in your own life? If you stop looking at something as your greatest challenge, your greatest obstacle, but it just might be your greatest blessing and opportunity in disguise.

Rich (19:31):
I love that. That’s awesome. And that’s the perfect way to end this, uh, interview. So again, thanks so much Greg Reid for being here. You’re awesome. Looking forward to getting to know you better and, uh, uh, and I guess I’ll see you soon

Greg (19:46):
Now. Bye.

Outro (19:51):
Thanks for listening to innovations and breakthroughs with your host, rich Goldstein. Be sure to click, subscribe, check us out on the web@innovationsandbreakthroughs.com and we’ll see you next time.