Growing, Contributing And Making A Difference Through CEO Space With Richard Kaye

One of the top companies in the world teaching up-and-coming entrepreneurs is CEO Space. It’s designed for small business owners who are either early-stage or already running a well-established business looking to meet qualified experts that can provide insight into how to take their enterprise to the next level. On today’s show, Richard Kaye, a Director at CEO Space, joins Mark Yuzuik to discuss what CEO Space is all about and how it’s helping entrepreneurs grow and make a difference in the world.

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Growing, Contributing And Making A Difference Through CEO Space With Richard Kaye

Make sure you subscribe to my podcast so you are alerted of when other podcasts come on. We’re always doing it with special guests, powerful people, ways that you can get ahead as well. Email me. Go to GetYourMindSetWithMark.com and it will give you my free book, Creating the Life You Want. Read a chapter a day, grow a little bit at a time. Your life is worth it. I want to thank you for being here. It’s special. It’s rare that I get this opportunity to interview somebody with the caliber of the expertise in the business of creating businesses, gapping businesses together, and getting your business to the next level where you couldn’t do it on your own. If you didn’t take your twenty years, what they can do in, imagine, six months to a year. That’s what this interview is about. It’s something I’m excited about. I’ve tried for years and years I want to do interviews. I’ve never had the opportunity. We happened to be stuck on this beautiful boat, Marketing Cruise, and now I trapped him.

I want to introduce to you Richard Kaye. He is a phenomenal man. I’ve known him for many years and he’s been an inspiration in my life. I want to say thank you. He is a big part of CEO Space. I’ve been there before. What a phenomenal place to be if you’re ready to take your life to the next level in all areas. The people you meet there, they are going to blow you away. I want to say, Richard, thanks for being here. Can you tell them all about what it’s going to do for their life? What I like about it is it’s not about what it’s going to do for their life, it’s what they can do for other people too. It’s all about contribution and giving back. That’s what we hone on. It’s not what can I take, it’s what can we share and give to each other. Take it away. Tell them what you think.

Thanks. We are trapped, if you can call this trapped, in an amazing cruise. We’re in Aruba. If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium. No, it’s Thursday, it must be Aruba. We are having the time of our lives. We’re almost 500 high-level entrepreneurs. Specifically, you asked about CEO Space, the years-long history, Mark, of doing only one thing and that’s building businesses. We’re not a seminar. In a seminar, you go, you take notes in 6 weeks, 6 months, 6 years, you look at the notes and say, “I remember that.” It was an experience. We are 70% transactional. That means 70% of the time, we’re building businesses, your business. Anywhere from a napkin idea all the way up through when Joan Gustafson, the Senior Vice President of 3M international, came and you can watch 3M grow.

People learn how to raise capital. Most people don’t know how to raise capital. Many people say, “I don’t want to give away my business.” When you learn it from our Founder, Berny Dohrmann, who is an economist banker, you will own the majority of the company and your investors are there supporting and endorsing you growing their business and wealth as you grow your business. We have created Chicken Soup for the Soul. That got started and birthed at CEO Space. People that most of us cannot reach on a phone become your lifelong friends. Sitting down with Sharon Lechter, for example, who’s the real author of Rich Dad Poor Dad or Jack Canfield, and Bob Proctor. These are some high-level players and you get to dine with them. You get to sit down, you and a couple of people at a meal table.

They’re not at a day just talking at you. They’re sitting and mentoring you. I told you, Mark, a funny story with Michael Gerber, The E-Myth author. After he taught, he was out in the lobby because that’s what we do. He’s mentoring people. His wife says, “Richard, you’ve got to stop him.” I said, “Why?” She said. “He’s 83. He needs his rest.” I ask Michael, he said, “I’ll be fine.” That’s our culture. That’s how you build a business. Like you and I, we’ve known each other for years and it wasn’t until we sat down, broke bread, and had a meal. That’s the key to what we do at CEO Space. We provide lunch and dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and you’re sitting with these people two hours at a time. You’d have to be brain dead if you cannot grow a business. We have helped people raise so many billions of dollars. We’ve stopped counting. What else would you like? You know your audience. What do you feel they would like to know?

The thing is when they come there, what can they expect? When they get there, it’s not selling. A lot of people go to an event and it’s like, “What am I going to be pitched? What am I going to be selling?” If you get caught selling, it’s nice. You gracefully escort them out of the program and you do not let them back in because it’s not about that. It’s about growing and that’s what I love.

In the CEO Space tribe, you get to do fun things in doing business. Share on X

I want to make a distinction about that. Our faculty are not permitted to sell. You will never be pitched from the stage. You come as a member, you can sell anything you want. However, if you come to sell, no one’s going to want to play with you. If you come to contribute, you will do beautifully in business. We have three major networking events where you will get to know everyone and everyone will get to know you and that’s nice. They will know what you’ll do in business. You will know what they do in business. We use a process called See Me Cards. It’s an index card. It says, “See me. I’m a contact. I’m a lead. I’m a resource. I know somebody who can help you.” I gave an example to you, I believe. Someone was telling me what she’s doing in business. I said, “I have a friend who can use your services.” I texted her immediately. That’s what we do with CEO Space. That’s part of the reason we’re 70% business building.

Tell them about Make-A-Wish Foundation, Frank.

Frank Shankwitz was an Arizona highway patrolman. If you’re old enough to remember CHiPs on television, that’s what he did in Arizona. There was a boy who was dying of cancer. I get chills even telling that story. He wants to be a motorcycle cop. I don’t remember how he got connected to Frank. Frank went to the Arizona motorcycle. They had a custom uniform made for him. He got his helmet. He was taken on the training course with Frank and this, ladies and gentlemen, was the beginning of Make-A-Wish Foundation but wait, there’s more.

There was a young man who was a member of our program, Greg Reid, who one day asked Frank, “Frank, what’s your wish?” Frank said, “No one’s ever asked me that.” He said, “I’d like to see a movie made about Make-A-Wish foundation.” That got born at CEO Space. The movie is called Wish Man. As an aside, this little boy, when he died from his cancer, he had a motorcycle escort and a police honor guard at his funeral. Those are the kinds of things. That’s an unusual story. When you have a dream and you try and do it your own, it takes forever. You said something profound.

We can help you shorten the timeline from where you are and beyond where you want to be. Someone said, “You will do more networking in one week at CEO Space than you will typically do in six months.” He was brilliant and he said, “These are not people who say buy my service.” By the way, every one of our faculty members is vetted. We want to make certain that when someone’s up on our stage, there are faculty, they are going to deliver what they say they do. If they don’t, they are fired. You, as a member, run this thing. You tell us what works and what doesn’t work. Thirty-two years, there’s got to be something. When I say it’s good, that’s nice. You’ve been around when you say that’s nice. When Forbes, Inc. and a myriad of the third-party press say, “This is the Business Growth Conference you cannot afford to miss.” That’s nice.

It’s beautiful when you talk about Make-A-Wish. I’m friends with Larry Wilcox who was Jon, and I found out the story. We were at another event, Secret Knock with Greg Reid. I said, “Greg, Frank is going to be here. Let’s surprise him because this whole thing started with CHiPs. Let’s bring Larry in.” I remember the moment and then he started making the movie. Jon, which is Larry, but at that moment he’s Jon. When Larry Wilcox, who was Jon from CHiPs, got up there and met Frank, it was a moment that will blow your mind. That’s one of the small things. There are many different things that happen, the connections.

CEO Space: You will do more networking in one week at CEO Space than you will typically do in six months.

You can’t even imagine when you go there. The people who can connect you. When you have an idea and you have a dream, you go for it. You surround yourself with the people that you know the best people you can. When you open up a door like the CEO Space, you’re surrounding yourself with a network of people that are achievers. That’s why there are speakers there. Some of the biggest speakers in the world will support this. There’s a reason why. It’s because it stands for something about growth and contribution. Everybody knows the best way to be fulfilled is to contribute and to give back. When you’re going there, you may have something that you have no idea how to grow it. Before you know it, you sit around that table, see me, and you share your dream, now your dream becomes in reality. How did the movie get made because of that? Someone asked the question.

When I used to go to networking groups before I was awakened, it was who’s coming in as a patient? Who’s going to buy someone’s insurance? Who’s going to buy a car? When you turn your life around, inside-out and upside-down, you ask the question differently, what do you do and how may we serve you? The world opens up to you. I want to invite you. I haven’t set this up because it’s on a cruise but I would like to provide your audience with a gift. I’ll tell you what the gift is. Keynote talks from people, not like, but including Bob Proctor, Les Brown, and Mark Victor Hansen. Free keynotes. These are not pitches nor come-ons. These are sessions they taught at CEO Space. Ladies and gentlemen, to get that go to CEOSpaceAmerica.com.

On the contact page, say you were referred by Mark and I will automatically send that stuff to you. It may take you a while. You fill out the contact form and mention Mark. It’s an invitation. You will learn. It’s almost five hours. You will see what happens when you’re in the presence. Speaking of Bob Proctor, by the way, Bob says, “CEO Space is not a business growth conference. This is a personal growth conference masquerading as a business.” Who do you have to be to sit down and have lunch or dinner with Bob and sit with him in a personal consultation?

By the way, it’s free. Not the conference, the consultations. There’s a lifetime membership fee. Some of you have heard of Lisa Nichols. When Lisa came to us, she was working a low-paying job in South Central, LA. Her soul said, “I have to be here.” She raised the money to come. Jump ahead a few years later. If you know Lisa, you’ll know and if you don’t, you’re about to learn. She’s worth over $5 million. She got in the video The Secret because of CEO Space. She’s apparently bought her own office building.

My understanding is she’s taken her company public. She got a $1 million advance on her book, No Matter What! She doesn’t teach with us anymore, Mark. She is traveling all over the world and changing lives. Here’s a woman who had to raise the money to come. I could bore your audience, but I won’t, forever with stories about people who said, “I can’t afford this.” Their soul said, “I need to be there.” When they did that, their lives changed. I’m going to tell you one more story. There is a young lady. She did not like Swiffer mops. She liked neither the ecology nor the economy. Did I tell you this story?

She went online looking for alternatives. All she found were other people complaining about Swiffer mops. A single mom from Tampa didn’t have the money. Somehow, she had a conversation. We don’t advertise. This is how people find out about us. She came to CEO Space. Shortening the story. She put a team together, put her business plan together, put her financials together. The product is called the Green Glider. You can find that on the internet at Go Green Glider because someone had the domain. She’s been on QVC fourteen times. She’s in over 300 Walmarts. On the packaging, it says, “Thank you, CEO Space.” Her dream, which she didn’t know she had, she just wanted to find something different. Her life’s a lot different now.

You can take better care of yourself and your family by generating more revenue. Share on X

That’s the whole thing. People have great ideas and they don’t know how to implement it because, “I don’t know who to go to. I don’t have the money.” What your brain does is make excuses on why you shouldn’t follow through it. When you have the opportunity and you show up somewhere, then your brain sees a different path because there are many different facets of CEO Space. You can’t go through them all. Wherever you are in your life, if you have something you’re passionate about and you believe in something that you know is going to help and contribute to the economy of the world, other people, whatever that is for you, it doesn’t matter what it is. That is the place you bring it to. I get a metaphor. Imagine going be invited to the Shark Tank but there are more than 4 or 5 sharks and you don’t get 30 seconds or whatever time they give you. You get to sit down because with 30 seconds, you get nervous.

You don’t get your point across within a minute or whatever it is. You can sit down and you get comfortable, you’re in a round table with Bob Proctor. Do you know that I study his stuff before every single seminar I do? He’s that good. I love him that much. Tony, Bob, Jim, you talk about all these major people out there. They’re influencers. They’ve influenced my life to be a better person. Surrounding yourself with that caliber of people, you will, by default, raise your expectation appreciation. You can’t fail unless you show up, go to the pool, fall asleep, get a sunburn, and have to get some aloe vera all over you so you don’t show up to the event. Otherwise, you’ve got to be there. They don’t understand the impact. Why is it not publicized? It’s because it doesn’t need to be. We’re not trying to attract the wrong people, we’re inviting the right people in. That’s what I love.

That’s a nice distinction. It’s not a seminar where you can go online into your credit card and show up. Every person in attendance is interviewed. We do our best to weed out people who are user takers and we all know those people. If you are a person who lives in contribution and collaboration, this is a home, it’s the new tribe. This is one of the reasons that Forbes and Inc. keep raving about us. It’s the collaborative process. Virtually every vertical you need, whether it’s podcasting or book publication, we have people there who have gotten potential authors or now authors six-figure advances on an idea, an unwritten book. Several years ago, Tony Robbins came, changed his trajectory, and added things to his repertoire of what he was providing. You will meet people who are amazing that you will say, “I can’t sit and talk with these people.” Yes, you can.

You may even be an introvert and you will find that at our place, you don’t have to approach people. They’ll come to you because the whole culture is about collaboration and cooperation. We ask you those questions, as I said, “What are you doing? How may I serve you?” We help you fine-tune that. There’s a young lady I met here who’s got an amazing story of overcoming some tragedies in her life. She says, “I don’t have anything to sell.” I said, “Great.” I said, “You have a story to tell though.” She looked at me, she asked, “What is it?” I said, “You’re alive talking.” She was almost abducted and could have been raped, murdered, and how she escaped. That’s a story from people from all walks of life. We have a presence in 150 countries.

The Founder, Berny Dohrmann, he retired from running the company to do his gift, which is nation-building. An economist, investment banker, he understands things that I don’t even know are out there that most of us don’t. He’s out building nations and helping them restructure their debt load so they can thrive and we thrive as a culture at CEO Space. Someone once asked me, “Is it a cult?” Here’s what a cult is. A cult is where people generally have regularly scheduled meetings. They dress fairly alike. They have a secret language like the United States Senate. That’s a cult and the cult is short for culture. We are a thriving culture. You made an interesting statement. There’s no advertising. It’s word of mouth.

That’s another thing that happens with doing business in the CEO Space tribe. You get to do fun things in doing business. We were at Curacao and we were in Aruba. There are some 480 people here. To give you an idea, ladies and gentlemen, when we asked who here are members of CEO Space, almost 25% of the people raise their hands because it is the culture that goes with you. They are healthy physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and raising their bottom line so you can take better care of yourself and your family by generating more revenue.

That’s the whole thing. You’ve got to take care of yourself and take care of others. If you’re going there to make more money, it’s probably not the right fit. If you go in there to contribute, to grow, and to make a difference, that’s what we’re looking for. That’s what this whole thing is founded on. It’s founded on the gift. It’s a gift and the reason Berny retired is that he’s got bigger things to do out there and it contributes back to CEO Space. Everything goes back to it. You can imagine the contacts and the connections that you’re going to make there when you check it out. You could spend years and years trying to do it by yourself getting frustrated. What if you have the availability to pick up the phone and make that phone call?

CEO Space: If you are a person who lives in contribution and collaboration, CEO Space is a home. It’s the new tribe.

People’s lives have changed. It’s called the Oprah effect. People that have been on Oprah one time, their life is different. People that go on Ellen one time, their lives are different. People that go to CEO Space one time, their life is different because of those connections. It’s not how much knowledge you have, it’s not how much money you have, it’s none of that stuff. It’s having the right connections to get your message out there to the right people so we can all grow and that’s what this is. We are close in many ways of building an idea. With social media, the ideas become products, success stories, and growth for everybody. That one idea of the tragedy that that woman experienced, by her sharing that idea now through CEO Space, how many other lives has she saved and protected?

That’s exactly what we were talking about on the upper deck, wherever that was. Ladies and gentlemen, you’re going to want to come on this cruise. She was frustrated because she has a story and didn’t even know she had a story. That was exactly my question. If you can change lives or people’s lives can be changed because of your story, give them hope. Look at Oprah, she was beaten up, raped, abused, and look at where she is now. You mentioned something. We are not a one-shot and it’s done. This is a lifetime membership. You come, you meet family, and it becomes your family. We’ve had six marriages come through our place. Two weddings were performed onsite. That’s the closeness that you develop the friendships there. You talk about a phone call away.

I was sitting with my friend and her daughter. Her daughter suggested there was something that was an infringement of her intellectual property. We’re sitting in my dining room. I picked up a phone, and I called a woman named Maria Speth, who is one of the top intellectual property attorneys in the country. We talked for 5 or 10 minutes, no fees, and she counseled us on what to do. That’s your family. That’s better than having a sister-in-law who is an attorney. There was no angst, nothing. These are the kinds of people you want in your life. You want people who have only one desire and that’s to help you thrive. I don’t know about you, but I call my core family a typical post-World War II dysfunctional family.

If someone surfaced an idea, what makes you think you can do that? That’s not life-producing and not life-giving. At CEO Space, nobody likes criticism even as constructive criticism so we use an expression called plussing. How can I plus that for you from your language? We use a process called SNAP, Super Networking Accelerates Potential. You will learn not an elevator speech because an elevator speech is sometimes your sales. Your SNAP, which you do all week long, is your shtick about what it is that you do and people hand you See Me Cards, and then you go a follow-up. It’s nonstop network. We’ve been described as networking on steroids in a healthy way.

I love the whole concept. I’ve been a big fan for many years and you’re 2 or 3 people away from getting everything you want plus in life. Your imagination will limit you but your opportunity with your relationships will have you grow way past you could ever dream of that you didn’t think you can get. Now it’s available to you because of that. Now that they know, they don’t have to rewind it, how do they get ahold of you? You didn’t have to give those gifts. I never asked. That’s the caliber of people there. I didn’t say, “Richard, what can you do?” It never came up. I said, “How do we get this message to people?” The people that are reading that yearning to want to grow, how do we help and support them? You made that offer. That’s the way the whole tribe is. How do they get ahold of you so we can make sure that we give them value, they can grow, and help somebody else as well as themselves?

Thanks for asking that. The website is CEOSpaceAmerica.com. My email address is RKaye@CEOSpaceAmerica.com. If you don’t want to fill out the contact form because it says, “How did you find out about us?” put Mark and send an email to me. Write Mark so I know where you found out about us and I’ll follow up with you and see how we may serve you. It’s true. You didn’t ask. You didn’t say, “What can you give my audience?” A lot of people do that. This is our culture. We do these five a year. We’re doing them in Denton, which is right outside of Texas. It’s easy to get to. Anywhere from outside the country, you can fly almost directly to Dallas. I want to thank you for the opportunity to share some of my knowledge. It was an experience. Speaking of that, there’s an old expression, “Other people’s money,” and that’s always good. Ladies and gentlemen, I totally ascribe to that, however, other people’s knowledge, wisdom, and experience are more profound than using other people’s money.

I appreciate you taking the time. I asked if we can do this and you said, “Whenever you want, I’ll be there for you.” That’s the whole message. No matter what, I’ll be there for you. That’s the slogan. Thank you and make sure you go and check them out. Email Richard and check him out. He is a phenomenal man. It’s all about contribution giving but helping you get to the next level. Subscribe to my podcast. I want you to listen to all the different podcasts. Everybody has something else to contribute. GetYourMindSetWithMark.com, email me, get my free book, and I will talk to you soon. God bless you and rock on. Thank you.