Giving: The Ultimate Secret To Success With Greg Reid

If there’s one good thing about the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s that it’s giving the world a chance to be united in one way or another to achieve success along with other great things. Through his connections, Greg Reid, the founder of Secret Knock, has learned many amazing mindsets and is here to share them. He believes in the ripple effect one act of kindness can have on a global scale and how this pandemic has provided different opportunities you can grab. Greg also talks about how successful people are always giving and available and why common sense can be used as a powerful tool in your journey.

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Giving: The Ultimate Secret To Success With Greg Reid

I appreciate your reading my blogs. Remember, Get Your Mind Set. There are several other episodes. Subscribe to be notified of new episodes. I’m coming up all the time and I want to give you my free book because you’re spending the time reading the show. I want to reward you. Creating the Life You Want is my gift for you. If you read a chapter, great. The wealth will start coming your way. That’s what I like to say. I’d like to do a lot of shows and this was one that I been looking forward to. Have you ever wanted to get somebody on your show but you’ve been intimidated, scared, nervous, but you’re excited too? You’re hoping the guy or the woman says yes. This is the one that I’ve been waiting for a long time.

Finally, you know how you get so tired that you get goofy tired? When I was in that state, I decided I’m going to text him and see if he’ll respond. If he responds, I’m going to ask him to do a podcast. Lo and behold, he did. It goes to show, sometimes you have to ask to receive. With me is who I want to call a dear friend. I hope he likes me as much as I love him. It’s Greg Reid from Secret Knock, one of the most dynamic individuals you will ever meet. He’s more connected than anybody I know in the world. The only one more connected with people is God. I don’t know anybody else who doesn’t know Greg Reid. With me is a phenomenal man. I want to introduce you to Mr. Greg Reid, CEO and Founder of Secret Knock. Greg, thank you for being here.

I’m going to have to do an endorsement blurb. “Connected like God,” that’s going to go on my website. Thank you.

You’re first on my list to get in this list of shows. My goals are Christina Aguilera. I want to get Will Smith. You are above all of them. Maybe I can get Christina and Will one day. Do you think that Greg would ever do it? I’ve called so many people. I said, “Call them. Greg, he’s down to earth.” I’ve done your event several times, but at times, even as an entertainer, we get intimidated. Not intimidated so much as because we look up to people like you so much. We don’t want to say the wrong thing. We’re always nervous about what we say, but I’m going to tell you your events blow everything away by far. You don’t even advertise. People know about who you are. You’re a guy who’s written so many books, more connected than anybody else. Tell me, what is Secret Knock? Who is Greg Reid?

First of all, my name is Greg. I’m talking to here from San Diego, California on the beach little community called Carlsbad. I’ve been publishing now 100 books in 45 languages around the world. I made a few movies, all that good stuff, but what’s cool and my claim to fame is I’ve got a star now on the Walk of Fame in front of the Paris Hotel near where you live.

Everyone can do one simple act of kindness that literally can have a ripple effect. Share on X

It isn’t just Gregory. It’s the Gregory. He’s got a star. How many people have a star? Not a lot. You’ve got to get it. Congratulations on your star.

Here’s the humbling part. I took my son there and I go, “I’m only six away from Elvis Presley.” He goes, “Who’s Elvis Presley?” There you go. If I was next to a TikTok star, I’d be cool.

It’s Elvis Presley. He was our Justin Bieber back in the day.

The last Secret Knock we did, you came and entertained us. It was interesting because you educated us. Also because you do the shows and the stage shows and it was great entertainment. You also start talking about mindset and looking for the reticular activator. You taught us whatever you look for, you’ll tend to see. When the student’s ready, the teacher appears. Rumi said, “Whatever you seek is seeking you.” We started applying a lot of those things into our daily practical application. It’s awesome that you bring that message to the world.

I appreciate it very much. When it comes to mindset, you are probably one of the leading guys in mindset. When you do your events, you have guests that when they walk out of there, they’re so blown away. If you cut and took 90% of your guests out, it will still be the number one event attended and yet you give and give. Here’s another example of Greg. What did he talk about? He didn’t talk about himself. He talks about me. I’m trying to tell you who this guy is. He’s like, “It’s not about me.” That’s the kind of guy you want to surround yourself with. When we talk about Secret Knock and the value you bring, I still think of the guy. This guy blows your mind. Do you remember Walter?

Giving Success: Whatever you look for, you’ll tend to see. When the student’s ready, the teacher appears. Whatever you seek is seeking you.

Let’s give the audience a preview. What happens is that I am very blessed and honored. Napoleon Hill wrote this book called Think and Grow Rich 100 years ago. He was given a letter of introduction by Andrew Carnegie, the richest cat at the time to go and meet all of his famous friends and write this formula for success. A hundred years later, the Napoleon Hill surviving family and foundation gave me a letter of introduction just like it. It’s a Willy Wonka ticket to meet anyone on Earth. People kept asking, “How do I meet your friends?” We started this event in my living room as a joke. They go, “How do I get in?” I go, “It’s a Secret Knock.”

It took off and now we’re Forbes and Inc. Entrepreneur’s top event, but here’s our hook. It’s the greatest event you cannot go to. You have to be invited. You’ve got to be screened. There are no tinfoil hats or talking to dead aliens to your cat. It’s all cool cats that come to this thing. What’s cool is we’ve attracted amazing people. The last time, we had President Vicente Fox. We’ve had private Skype with Edward Snowden while he’s hiding in Russia, all the way down to the inventor of UGG boots, the founder of Make-A-Wish and all these different things. The person you’re talking about is Walter O’Brien. He had a TV reality show called Scorpion on ABC for four years. He’s the smartest man alive, 197 IQ. The stuff he’s sharing with me about what’s going on in the world right now is phenomenal because there is some serious situation, but there’s also an opportunity that the world has never ever seen before.

I did an interview with somebody and I said the Corona’s opportunity. I said, “I’d have to be careful how I say that because people might take it wrong, like I don’t care.” It’s not that it’s an opportunity because of the pandemic. What happened is this is what life is about. Have we ever in our life thought we’d ever come across this? Now is an opportunity. The opportunity is also to help and give and contribute back. It’s not about how much can we get. It’s how much can we serve. When we say opportunity, that’s what we’re talking about. That’s because I know you a little better than the readers. When you talk about this is the greatest opportunity, that’s what you’re trying to get people to realize is, “Now’s your chance.” Now’s your opportunity to get out there and do something different and do what you’ve always wanted to do. People complain that you never had time. Now you’ve got all the time in the world.

This is what he is referring to. He goes, “For the first time in the history of the planet Earth, a scientist from Ethiopia is talking to the scientists in China. That person is talking to a person in Japan who’s talking to Russia, who’s talking to America, who’s talking to Canada.” It’s never been done. Everyone has always trade secrets. For the first time, everyone’s showing their Rolodex, all the cards on the table. Naturally, we will find a vaccine and a cure for this horrible crisis. He goes, “Do you realize what’s going to come from it? What if the guy in Ethiopia has got one little magical molecule over here that a guy over here in Russia was confused on? They put them together and they find the cure to AIDS or they found the cure to cancer.” The things that might come out of this are the unforeseen things that are spectacular because it’s the first time as a global nation we’ve come together, as a collective to work together.

Instead of one world, it’s one country. It’s one world now. What I’ve noticed is I don’t hear anybody talking about the war going on. I am talking about how we come together and fight together this war on the virus and not each other. I thought, “If we only got that out of this mess, it’s an advancement. It’s growth.” That’s what you do as human growth, human beings. I don’t care what religion you are, what color you are, where you’re from. All I care is that if you’re sick and you need something, I can give it to you. That’s the way this world is coming to. That’s what I loved about it.

What’s common sense to you is genius to somebody else. Share on X

Think about it. The whole world has been saying we cannot fix homelessness yet all of a sudden, we did. We’ve put a Band-Aid on it if nothing else. It shows that’s what’s possible when shoved and pushed in a situation to come up with a solution. What’s happening is people are going to start seeing things from a different perspective moving forward. Here’s back to your original point. When Napoleon Hill wrote Think and Grow Rich, the biggest chapter was called the Six Ghosts of Fear. He was talking about the fear of old age, of loss, of love, of poverty. The modern version of that, it’s the fear of the unknown, which is huge right now. It’s the fear of pain. The biggest one is the fear of judgment, of criticism.

There’s a bumper sticker that says, “What would you do if you couldn’t fail?” The big question is what would you do if you stop worrying about what other people thought? Would you start that business? Would you do something? Right now, for the first time, I promise you, no one’s thinking about you. They’re dealing with their own situation. No one’s looking in your window. If you’ve ever had that idea to make a movie or write a book or start that business, this is that perfect opportunity that has been blessed upon you to get that from your mind to creation. Here’s the best part. You don’t need a lot of money because right now I guarantee there are some kids sitting at home who’s a great web designer. If you might have a great idea for a clothing line, you’ve got a clothing manufacturer that’s got downtime right now. You three come together and collective, you might have the new clothing design that comes out when all this thing breaks. How can you start collaborating in a brand new way?

The opportunity is there because everyone is at home. What’s happening is now you can reach out to the millions of people that used to not be at their computer and say, “How do I get involved in something?” Now everybody has an opportunity and they should get involved. I was driving down the Las Vegas strip one time. During rush hour, there was no traffic. I remember the day when I used to complain about all this traffic. Now I’m wishing there was traffic out there. The things we used to be angry about, now we wish we missed. That’s what we can look at is the one thing we have going for us now is we have time. We have the people that we can get in front of.

We have all the ideas of never having to be judged if it doesn’t work because where are we at? We’re in survival mode, but we’re also in creativity mode. If we allow ourselves to move towards that goal, then we’ll find a way. We’ll always search for what we want and we’ll find it as long as we don’t have excuses. Now we have no excuses not to look for it because we have all the opportunity right in front of us. That’s one of the reasons I reached out to you. I thought, “What is he going to say? No?”

First of all, you’re where you are. You can call me anytime. Door number two, I wrote down a little thing. It was interesting. Through all this situation, I wanted to get all my ducks in a row. I called my legal team and said, “Is my game plan in place for everything if something that’s worst-case scenario happened to me?” He said, “Absolutely. Your will and everything are set.” I called my life insurance guy and said, “Make sure I put all my numbers of money insurances together so my son has access to it in the worst-case scenario.” I put everything in there and I went, “I’ve got a great death style,” meaning that I’ve got a star, books, and I’d left a legacy. I’ve got money that goes to the family. They’re all taken care of.

Giving Success: Everyone has trade secrets, but because of the pandemic, for the first time in the history of the planet Earth, everyone’s showing all their cards on the table.

I go, “I’m good. What’s after that? What is the secondary lifestyle going to look like?” What does that mean? I go, “When I come out of this, what’s my lifestyle going to look like? My death style is taken care of, but what’s my life style?” I look outside and go, “Do I need three cars that I can’t drive on the road right now? Not really. What was that about? Do I want this? Do I need this?” I’m starting to look at things from a different perspective. I’m going to start peeling back that onion. I’m going to get some big boxes and start donating things that are unnecessary in my life and start transitioning to have a different lifestyle when I come through.

Now what’s valuable to you is different than what used to be because people used to judge us for what we had and now it’s what can we do and make a difference. Who is Greg Reid? When he leaves here, they don’t care what kind of car you have. They know what difference you make. You’ve already made a difference. The people that I’ve met through you are phenomenal. Believe me, I’ve never had a bad relationship that I’ve met from you ever. When I talk about Secret Knock, I know you do a lot of contributions. People don’t realize this. How much do you wind up giving away, if you want to expose that, to the people that come there?

A lot. It’s one of those things we’ve never even talked about. You’re the first person to even ask that question, so God bless you for doing that. At each one, usually a couple of hundred thousand dollars is given away and then we raise another $100,000 for charity. On top of that, we find causes and do stuff. What’s cool is that we created something special and we’re interviewing a guy named Frank Shankwitz. He’s the Founder of a nonprofit called Make-A-Wish Foundation. I asked him, “What was your wish?” He goes, “What are you talking about?” We’re on stage. I go, “You’re the founder of Make-A-Wish. What do you want?” He goes, “No one ever asked me. I’m just the founder.” I said, “What? We’re going to grant your wish. What is it you want? We’re going to give it to you.” He says, “I want my story to be told so my grandkids know that I did something.” It took us many years and trials and tribulations, but we ended up making his story into a major feature film that was on the ballot for the Oscars in 2019. We’re streaming worldwide on Netflix called Wish Man. How cool is that?

It is one of the best movies you could ever see. I’ve watched it. I’ve asked several of my friends, “Have you seen it?” They all said yes. I’m thinking, “I thought I was the only one.” I thought there’s a special little tip. The main actor, he was from Australia. He didn’t even have the accent when he was there playing Frank. What a powerful movie. It gives you the realization. Everyone thinks that Frank created this Make-A-Wish and all that. He came from abundance. If you see the movie, I don’t want to give it away. Sometimes we have to go through the hardest things in life and have everything taken from us emotionally, financially. Getting beaten down to become the person we need to become to make a difference. Everything Frank went through, I never knew he went through that until I saw the movie. Now when I look at him, I look at him through my eyes of gratefulness like I’ve never seen before. All the pain and suffering that was inside, he let it outside. Now we made a difference worldwide because of this.

The message of the film is pretty simple. It’s that everyone can be a hero. The realities are you can give a pair of socks to a homeless guy. You can stop a bully from fighting. You can go to your neighbors and check on them, make sure they got toilet paper. Everyone can do one simple act of kindness that literally can have a ripple effect. That’s the theme of this film. We hope that it keeps inspiring people around the world. It’s interesting, as we’re going through all these different changes, I’m also realizing other opportunities. More wealth and abundance were created through the Depressions and the Recessions than any other time in history. What we want to do is start and look at other things that are opportunities around us. What if you could start that new business? No matter what your background is right now, you know something that someone else doesn’t know. What’s common sense to you is genius to somebody else.

The most successful people are also the most available people. Share on X

How can you get rewarded for something that you’re already going to do? If you start changing that mindset and go, “You understand, I do nothing but play video games,” that’s awesome. I guarantee you know a couple of tricks and techniques of that video game that no one else does. What if you started an online chat room where people paid money for those tips or whatever? It’s starting to think as creative as you possibly can be and stop thinking and seeing things as they were because when we come out of this, they’ll never be the same.

No, they won’t be the same, but at the end, the opportunity won’t be there like it is right now either. That’s the one thing that I’m trying to get people to realize is everybody has a message. Just because you didn’t make it through this part of your life, you weren’t financially successful in one area or not as good in school, it doesn’t mean you don’t have something to share. You’ve got nothing to prove, but you do have something to share. People out there are looking for people that can share their experiences. Experience is the one thing you have. You didn’t learn experiences. You went through experiences and because of that experience, now you have something that people need to learn about and that they’re dying for to get out there. If I was to ask you to give a golden nugget to somebody, how do they come out of this financially? What would some of the tips or things you would say that if I was Greg Reid, financially coming out of this looks like this is my opportunity? With me, I’m in real estate. To me, real estate is going to be a great opportunity. What else opportunity do you feel is out there?

Real estate is going to be the next thing. I can’t even imagine. The opportunity won’t be there, but right now, I’m not giving financial advice. I can share what I’m doing and then let other people do it. I’m just a regular guy. I look at common sense and I look at, for example, Starbucks. Their stock is in half right now. I understand that. I also know that the second that we are released and we’re allowed to go out of our homes, the first place I’m going forward is Starbucks. Maybe it’s me, but my logic tells me, “Maybe I didn’t invest in the Starbucks stock because it’s half price.”

I know that this too shall pass. The chances of doubling my money are actually feasible and logical. How many other times if you can get a 6% or 3% return on your investment is huge? Where else have you had 100% opportunities? I’m saying that there are those types of things. You’ve got to start looking for them. Whatever you seek is seeking you. I mentioned to you offline. I’m looking at MGM because the strips are closed, the things are down. No one’s going to casinos. When things come back in full force, chances are they’re going to start going out and it wouldn’t be entertained again. I’m starting to look for those types of logical things.

I remember it was a 2008, 2009. I have a friend. The stocks dropped to $2. He hawked everything, including his personal treasures. He made millions off for that. He said, “It’s not that you’re taking advantage of the situations. Look at the car dealerships. When Obama bailed them out, the stock was low. You couldn’t get all the way. You could lose if you didn’t do something.” That’s the only way to lose is by doing nothing. When you think about the opportunity right now, now’s the time when you got an opportunity to do something. If you have a self-directed IRA, retirement account, maybe check with a professional that knows the business. I’m not here to give advice either. It’s common sense. I’m not the world’s smartest man when it comes to finances, but when the opportunity is there, we’ve got to see it for what it is. How would somebody get ahold of Greg Reid if they want you to speak on this? You do speak on stages. I’ve seen you all over the world. How do they get in touch and be invited to Secret Knock? Is that opportunity available? How do you do that? I know people who want to know more about Gregory.

Giving Success: Right now, for the first time, no one’s thinking about you. They’re dealing with their own situation. So if you’ve ever had an idea, this is that perfect opportunity that has been blessed upon you.

The easiest way to get in touch with me, believe it or not, is Instagram. If you go to Instagram and go @GregSReid, it goes right to my direct message where there’s no filter. It goes to me personally. The only thing I ask is that we don’t talk about the weather, what you ate for dinner. If you sit there and say, “What book do you recommend?” or, “What would you do here?” or whatever, I’d be glad to respond. Secret Knock is SecretKnock.co. We left the M off so no one could find us, yet people still did. The next one we’re going to do is September 2nd and 3rd. We postponed it because we know all the shutdowns, but we did a live stream so people could see. In fact, we’re going to do another live stream, but it was cool.

We had the founder of Showtime television. We had the founder of the E! Entertainment Network. We had the founder of UGG Boots. We had the founder of Make-A-Wish. We had the founder of Pictionary. We had the inventor of the credit card magnetic strip. It was incredible. What happens is I realized that the most successful people are also the most available people. If you’re brand new at something, you’re happy, go lucky. You’re fresh. You’re cool. If you’re at the top of your field, you’re happy, go lucky. You’ve got nothing to prove. When you’re in the middle, you’re a pain in the neck. You’re filled with ego. You’re edging God out. It’s easier to get to the founder of RE/MAX Real Estate Corporation, the billion-dollar juggernaut, than your local RE/MAX office down the street. They’re usually filled with their BMW, ego and their fancy cars.

I realized the whole thing is jumping to the front of the line. Here’s my tip. If you want to be successful, find someone who’s getting the results you want for yourself now and then ask the person for guidance. For example, if I was going to open a brand-new restaurant, my friend Gene Landrum started Chuck E. Cheese, but I wouldn’t ask him because he did it many years ago. I’d say who did Five Guys or In-N-Out or the hot thing right now because they’re getting the results I want. Surround yourself with people that are getting the results you want for yourself now. Ask those people for guidance. If you reach out to ten, I promise you, someone will get back to you.

That is by far the advice I’m going to take. I was watching Undercover Boss. The guy was an immigrant. His father came over and he started this company, old telephone wires and the big thing, that’s what he created. Now it’s a $2.8 billion company. The guy is all about being grateful to his employees. It’s intimidation. How do I reach out to him and say, “I would love to be part of your circle. How could I be part of maybe come to a show? Do you give your employees some hope or create and take my message to you?” I always get to the, “I’ve got something else,” and your brain goes on and do something else because we get intimidated. Even I get intimidated and I’ve realized now because their approach will be me getting it told to you and you responding. If Greg can do it, maybe other people can do it too. Maybe they’re open too and all you have to do is ask because if you ask for nothing, you’ll get nothing.

I’ve got a great lead for you. Dina Dwyer. I don’t know if you met her before at a Secret Knock, but I got to make an introduction. She inherited this company called the Dwyer Group and they own Mr. Rooter, Glass Doctor, Molly Maids, Rainbow, you name it. They own all the biggest brands in the world. I’ll connect you with her. That’d be great because one person can get you in line with all of them.

I don’t know how to say I love you more than God. If I was there, I’d give you a big hug, Greg. You have no idea how powerful this man will be influential to your life. Check him out, Secret Knock. Go there. One of the proudest things I did was get to see you create Wish Man because it made a difference in so many other lives. You’re out there globally making a difference, Greg. Your message needs to be international, global because you’ve got something and I’ve never seen you not smile and always welcome me and my wife into whatever we wanted. You always said, “Come down,” and made us feel comfortable. I want to thank you for that. Check him out. Greg Reid, Secret Knock. Thank you for reading. Subscribe to be notified on other episodes and get my book, Creating the Life You Want. Let other people know about Secret Knock. Greg, thank you so much. Let’s chat soon and thank you for being here. I appreciate you very much.

You’ve got it, champion. Keep smiling.