Want to Win Big? Copy What Winners Do!

The secret is to surround yourself with people that are getting the results that you want for yourself. When I wanted to be a best selling author, I went to Barnes and Noble and I bought every best selling book, not every best written book. I didn't want to be a great writing author. And I asked those people said, what's the trick? What's the system they taught me? I duplicated it. Here we are. Today we can have anything we want by surrounding ourselves with the folks who've already gone before us and ask them the journey so it can cut a learning curve in half.

Guys, help me welcome the one and only man. Dude, what's going on? Dude.

Living the dream. I gotta tell you, right now I feel so good. Even I want to be me. It's so cool if things are in flow, you know what I mean?

Yeah, man, I dig it. Well, look man, you've done a tremendous amount of things, gosh, in your career. How did you get started in this, this world of just really manifestation and like bringing good things into your life and then taking that to other people's lives?

Yeah, I don't work on the woo woo part of that, the whole manifestation. As much as I get off my ass and I take action and I move forward, I do stuff. So, you know, that's through our time we're having together. You're going to find that I still believe in the principles, but I believe in taking the action because it's the action and the law of attraction that makes dreams a reality. Think and feel, get off your ass, take action, line with amazing people and do it. And then amazing things start coming your way. So that's it. So for example, for people new to me, you know, I've been publishing 140 books, 45 languages, got a star on the walk of fame for writing books. Yet I'm dyslexic, can't spell, can't read.

I'm right there with you, right?

And you know, work your strengths, hire your weaknesses, right? Surround yourself with people that, you know, play at something that you struggle at. I can speak. Okay. So I get ghostwriters to sit down and listen to me and then they craft in a way. People want to read it.

No, I love it. You know, I was telling somebody recently that was having, they were talking about the is, you know, is the law of attraction. Real is manifestation. Real is hard work. Like what is, what is the secret? I said, well, to me manifestation slash attraction is nothing more than focus. Right. Are you actually focused on bringing into your life that what you want to bring into your life or are you constantly distracted? So as you've been kind of like, you know, doing everything from film and books and more, how have you seen distraction play a role in people's adversity or life?

Well, other people's a lot, and ours over here, none, because we don't allow that. So it's just interesting. You know, you talk about the scientific version of these things. You're saying we know that scientifically, Ras. We take our activator system, right. You know, you look for it and magically, there it is. Rumi had a quote, the great philosopher, whatever you seek is also seeking you. Yeah, it's how you vibrate at the same level. So I can use the woo woo word of vibrate. But it's true. If you look, if, if I look for happy, positive people, I surround myself with happy, positive people. If you go to the grocery store and you're in a bad mood, everyone also be in a bad mood. Everything outside of us is usually a reflection. It's a mirror of how we're feeling inside. So have you ever noticed and said, God, everyone's in such a great mood usually. That's because things are going well in your own life. So I notice how I'm feeling towards that world as a reflection going on within.

I dig it. I dig it. Well, you know, one of the stories I've heard you say in a couple TEDx talks and some other things that you've done is kind of recrapping a little bit of Evander Holyfield and the importance of standards. You know, I was thinking back, it's like, okay, where I'm at in my life. Did I re. Yeah, I do have higher standards in some cases. So talk to us a little about the standards and how to raise them up to an expectation level that obviously can take you to another level.

Well, let's go back to the mirror thing. I call it the mentor. Mirror mentor. I'm going to phrase it right now. So the whole thing is like, I don't know what you need, and we don't know what other people's lives are going on. But we only know what's going on with, again, our own little psyche. So sometimes we got to stand in front of that mirror and say, is this who you expect you to be? And if the answer is no, then only you know the answers, what you're capable, what your desires are to go make it come to life. Because the outside world only sees what we show them. Right? You can show them the Fancy Instagram thing, but be miserable. Or you can be miserable, um, and actually have a pretty decent life. It's all perception. So I was raising standards. Evander Holyfield, you know, the boxing legend, win more heavyweight championships than anyone. I said, how did you win so many? And he said, I just raised that standard level. He said, in sports, I showed up early, left late, invented exercises at a higher standard, and I won more championships. I said, didn't it hurt being in a fight? He says, yeah, but when you're in a fight, you don't focus on the pain. You don't focus on the blows. As soon as you do, you end up on your back, knocked out. But that's what people do outside the ring in real world, they focus on gas prices, war, economy, Covid. And then they wonder why they never become a champion. And he pulled me in tight. Nadonis of a man missing half an ear by Tyson. If you says, the funny thing is, when you do win the championship, he says, this is a defining moment. He says, everyone comes to their feet and they chant your name, they raise your hand in victory, and the guy puts a big shiny belt around your waist. He says, at that moment, and at that second, you don't feel even one of the punches you took along the journey. Yeah, but the guy losing locker room feels every bruise, every excuse for the rest of their life wishing they had a higher standard.

Yeah, yeah, no, I think it's so good. I also find, Greg, that one of the things that I. That I've discovered is it seems like those that are achieving certain levels of prosperity. Prosperity is kind of strong, a weird word, but prosperity, purpose, meaning, significance, like they're. They're actively enjoying their life. Right? They. They go through a more of a joyful, contentment state on a consistent basis. One of the things that I've noticed is most of them have a sincere sense of authenticity, like, they know who they are, they know what they're about. They have an idea about what they're supposed to be doing. However, when I contrast that with other people that seem to be in that low state where they're, you know, wo is me, life's not working, business isn't working, nothing's working. Head in the sand, all that. It seems to me that many of them are living somebody else's life. Like, they're not really clear on, you know, kind of how they were created to be. They spend a whole lot more time just trying to be something else for someone else. Do you find that as well?

Yeah, I. I think you Know, it keeps coming down to, again, you and I are projecting right now what people or what people think in a general statement. I, and I get that. I, I just find at the end of the day, we are exactly where we choose to be. You know, there's an old saying says, I can tell everything I need to know about you by the company you keep. I think the new way of saying that is I can tell everything I need to know about you from where you're at right now. If you're sitting there telling me, I want a Lamborghini but don't have a Lamborghini, it just means you weren't willing to do what it was necessary to get the Lamborghini.

Yeah.

If, say, you want a loving relationship and four kids and don't have it, that's because we might have some internal issues and some intimacy, things that we need to work on.

Yeah.

So at the end of the day, you can learn everything, everything you need to know about somebody by exactly where they're at. Not their. It's not the words anymore. It's exactly the, the destination which they find themselves.

Yeah. No, that's so good. You know, I was just thinking too, you know, many times, in order to go to said next level, to get to the Lamborghini, where you don't have a Lamborghini, there's going to be a tremendous amount of discomfort, a tremendous learning curve, a tremendous desire or a need for an educator, a mentor, someone to help you along the way. And I know one of your, One of your power phrases is millionaire mentor. And I'm curious to know if, if someone like myself, for example, my. I am where I am today because of a millionaire mentor. I'm 16, 17 years old. My life is going nowhere. I'm acting out my childhood based on what I see in front of my parents, didn't have a whole lot. This man looks at me and said, what's the difference between a rich man and a poor man? And I was like, well, duh. Money is like, absolutely not. It's the way they think. And then he proceeds to check me. And he said, well, do you want to continue thinking like your father? Do you want to learn to think like me? And that was the, that was like the, the catalyst of changing this ADHD dyslexic kid that can't spell what the flip either into putting me into a place where, you know, now I can hopefully encourage others to do the same. But I can tell people wholeheartedly that going from there to where I'm at today. And I'm sure where I'm at today to where I ultimately want to be with my life long term is going to be a tremendous amount of discomfort. So as a result, how does resiliency play into really going after what it is you feel like you're made for?

Well, you just dropped like 14 like nuggets right there. So first of all, congratulations for having a great mentor. It sounds like you had your own rich dad, poor dad situation.

Yeah. And what very much was.

Yeah. I want to be very clear with everyone. There's a difference between a mentor and a coach. So for example, a mentor is a older, wiser sage, perhaps that is one step ahead of you can tell you to watch out for that pothole and then you hire a coach to kick you in the ass and points in the right direction. Usually a mentor is never a paid position. It's a mentorship position and then you hire a coach. And I believe it's important to have multiple mentors and multiple coaches. So for example, I got a great tennis coach who worked on my backhand, but I'll never ask him about my financial.

Situation. I'm not going to ask my speaking coach to talk about, you know, writing books. And I'm very cognizant of who I surround myself with because the secret is to surround yourself with people that are getting the results that you want for yourself. And that's the easiest, best way to find a mentor. When I wanted to be a best selling author, I went to Barnes and Noble and I bought every best selling book, not every best written book. I didn't want to be a great writing author. And I asked those people said what's the trick? What's the system? Yeah, they taught me, I duplicated. Here we are today we can anything we want by surrounding ourselves with the folks have already gone before us and ask them the journey. So it can cut our learning curve in half.

Yeah, man, that's so good. You know, I was just thinking too, how much of your story plays into that you're such a great storyteller on stage, off stage, just in general, when you're connecting with people, where did you find the love for the story? Even like, you know, because one thing I love about you is you. You embellish certain elements of from pitch and everything and bringing people into the story. So I'm curious to know, where did you learn the passion for story?

Well, we had again, great mentors, right? Tremendous. Jones and I had Les Brown and Zig Ziglar and all those people I got to have meeting with these amazing legends from back in the day on the same note. The answer to your question is, I'm going to give everyone the answer to this. And this is interesting. I don't think I've ever shared this really publicly. Maybe once or twice in my life. It's called songs. You see, I'm dyslexic, I can't speak, I'm the worst guy. So if it comes down to a 30 minute or a 90 minute speech, there is a 0% chance, zero. I can remember that. And one of my mentors said, don't just practice a song. And I go, what do you mean it's two minutes long? It's a beginning, a middle, a hook, a melody and an end. So I just told the Evander Holyfield song and what happens is that I mastered one song at a time. So if I go do a speech and they say I got an hour and they go, hey, we're running behind. You only got 12 minutes. No problem. I'll do my three greatest hit songs right. That way, no matter what happens, people put a camera in my face and a microphone. I know at least I got one song in the chamber that I look like I'm prepared more than I actually.

Yeah. That's so good. You know, and it's building off of that. What, what is. What makes up Greg's story? How did, how did, like, what's. What's Greg's transformation like?

Well, I'm right again. I'm the least qualified guy to do what I do. I'm just a regular cat in the mean streets of San Diego. West coast, right beach. I don't have a rags of riches story. We lived in a beautiful place, had fancy cars. I don't have one of those. It's like my son, the same thing. He's 10 years old. He doesn't know anything except for an incredible life. And the moral is, is that we didn't go through a lot of the challenges and trials and tribulations that our forefathers had to fight for. So I have a great appreciation for where I'm at right now. Yeah, I haven't sober guy. That's one of my big things. I'm 34 years sober.

Just awesome. Congratulations.

Thanks.

Yeah, yeah, it's just this, hey, it's work.

It works. And so. But that's a lifestyle. So I believe the answer to your question is lifestyle. And I believe in living a life of attraction rather than promotion. If you ever notice, I've never taken pictures of the fancy cars and the things and the stuff. Because that's, that's. I just. The way I live, I don't need to show people that it's usually the people standing in front of a Lamborghini that they don't, you know, even have.

They don't actually own.

Exactly. I just hang out with Mr. Lamborghini. Mr. Lamborghini. I'd rather have take my picture with Lamborghini than a fake picture of a Lamborghini. So I believe in collecting human beings in a positive way. Surround yourself with people that you have respect for, not people you have influence over. I want to say that again. Reuben Gonzalez taught me this. Surround yourself with people you have respect for, not people you have influence over. Your life will never be the same.

Man, now you're talking about me dropping nuggets a minute ago. I think you're just sprinkling all over the place. I think we're in good shape. Good light, kind. You know, as you're, as you've managed to build your career, you obviously went from, you know, speaking to books to now into the motion picture business or in the film business. What led you there? What attracts you to it now and what are you hoping for to kind of achieve?

Yeah, there's a quote that says state it and create it. And so I used to put on all my monikers that I was a author, speaker, filmmaker, yet never made films. And so what happened is that I spoke into existence by making these little documentary things. After the Secret, I did a follow up thing called Pass it on. And we ended up having the largest movie premiere in the history of Las Vegas, where Robin Leach from the Lifestyles of Rich and Famous did all the interviews on the red carpet. Celebrity showed up, but I never did a real movie. And then finally, the founder of Make a Wish foundation, who, you know, grants wishes to terminally ill kids, was at my event called Secret Knock. And I asked him, I said, what was your wish? And he looked at me like I had two heads and goes, what do you mean? I go, well, you're the founder of Make A Wish, what was your wish? And he said, no one asked me. And so why don't we be the guy who grants the wish of the founder of Make A Wish? What do you want? I'll give it to you. 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. I knew nothing about movies and it took me six years. And finally when it came out in 2019. We were on the short list, the ballad for the Oscars. And we are still worldwide right now on all the streaming devices. Yeah, I did a year and a half on Netflix. Now we're on. We're everywhere. And it's so cool because the whole moral that his message was, you don't have to be a millionaire, a billionaire, to leave a legacy or to have a ripple, lasting effect. You can give a pair of socks to a homeless person or stop a bully from fighting. Everyone can be a hero.

Yeah, no, it's such a good reminder too. Yeah. I was just thinking that the, you know, it's funny going back to my, my first mentor, Steve. When I'm on stage, we call him Old man Mary just because they get the two. Steve's confused.

But one of the things that I remember of him was he was never famous. Like from a, from a public figure perspective, he was incredibly successful. One of the things I remember most about him, it was there's nothing for him to take some money and put it under a basket of hush puppies at a, at a barbecue restaurant in Carolinas and walk out the door and watch a single waitress come out and just, you know, get wrecked because she's not going to now she can pay her light bill and put food in her, in her child's mouth. And I watched him do that repeatedly over times, in different circumstances, situations. And it dawned on me not that long ago where he may have never stood on stage, but he's actually been on every single stage that I've ever been on because I, you know, we talk about him consistently on a regular basis. And that was, I think, the first time that I realized that a legacy can outlive you, even if it's not necessarily in lights. It's fantastic if it is in lights for you, but it. Every everyday human being can do a good thing and make a difference.

Yeah. And what's interesting about that, it's that ripple effect. Look, legacy. I know I used the word earlier, but big believer in legacy for like the way that we think of it. I believe legacy is here and now, of what we're doing now. It's our actions. Because if you don't believe me, just go to a cemetery anywhere in the world and I guarantee I will promise you from 1980. Think how close that is from 1980 and before. There's no flowers on any graves. None.

Yeah.

Think about that for a second. And then if I was doing an event recently and I said, hey, everyone that can say your father's first Name, raise your hand. Everyone went up. And I go, do we believe that we're a chemical of the blood and the, you know, enzymes passed on from our family heritage? We're a composite. Ever said, yeah, it's a great. Well, raise your hand if you can say your grandpa for grandpa's name. And only half of them went up. I said, if you can say your great great grandfather's name, raise your hand and only like four. And I said, if you can raise your great great grandfather and not one person. I went, well, if you're a embodiment and you're here because of those people and you don't even know their name, yeah, then here's a news flash. It'll be the same for you and four generations. So it's right now what we're doing. And when I had a chance to do this star in Vegas Strip, you know, people think it's an ego play. And it is for a different reason. Because I'm 60 years old, my son's only 10. I know he's never go to my grave and my grandkids will never go, but every time they go to Vegas, they're going to see that and go, there's your grandpa and pour one out for the homie. So for me, that was. That was my selfish goal.

Well, it's good that you already achieved that one. So what is next? Like, what exciting projects are you working on now?

All kinds of stuff. We're working on a couple new movie projects, you know, TV show. We're working on Secret Knock coming up in March, where six months. We sold out Early Prosperity camps in January. I mean, we're doing all these fun, cool activities. And I love doing these live events because we start Secret Knock from a very unique perspective. It's known as the greatest event you cannot go to. You have to know someone, be invited. And if you're watching, you're invited to go apply. And we made a website, secretknock Co. We left the m off so people couldn't find us. Yet we still did. And what's interesting is that I got so tired of going to these events where there was coaches and teachers and mentors, which are awesome, but that's not where I want to. I want to surround myself with people I have respect for, not people I have influence over. So I said, well, what if I did an event where I only bring in the actual person who did what everyone else is talking about? So if you want to start a clothing line, here's the founder of Ugg Boots. Go have tacos with him in the corner. If you want to start a board game, here's the guy who did Pictionary. If you want to start a nonprofit, here's a guy who did make a wish. And what happened was we started attracting all these amazing people. So we've done private Skyp with Edward Snowden while he's hiding in Russia.

Oh, that's cool.

We just brought in Carol Baskin from the Tiger King to say she never even met Joe Exotic President Vicente Fox, who told us how George Bush tried to trick him to go to war in Iraq. And it's interesting when you start hanging out with the people who've actually done what everyone else was just talking about, you get it right from the direct to source. And it's usually completely different than the way that the media spun it. So that's what our events are about. So that gives me the most excitement. And the people I got coming to this next one will be talked about for years.

Oh, that's amazing. Well, who do you have coming to the next one?

Can't tell you.

We still.

It's weird. Again, here's our event cost 3,000 hours ago. And I will not tell you who it going to be there. I will not tell you where it is. Nothing. Just the city, state and date. That's it. So you can make, you know, plane reservations and that's it. And then what happens? I just drip to our people that are coming, see where the secret location is. And by doing that like again, when President Fox came, no Secret Service, I got to keep everything clean and, and separate. It's. It's pretty spectacular.

No, that's amazing. That's. That is. That is a really cool concept. How long you been doing. How long you been doing the secret knock?

17 years. Oh, wow.

There's lots of memories that. So that is. That ends up being a huge chunk of your overall legacy then.

I don't know about that. Again, legacy is whatever. It'll be great video for later on. But again, it's so funny even talk about legacy. If you ever notice on Instagram you see an old Jim Rohn video and it's all like, I don't know, from.

The 80s where it's kind of like gray.

Tune it out. Well, that's the same way whatever film now in HD 8k will be in whatever. It's not a hologram popping out. Right? So at the end of the day, who knows? But right now, here and now, that's what I think is the most important because we want to Be serving the people that are doing it right now so that they can carry the torch and pass it to somebody else.

That's, that's good. No, it's awesome. Well, when, you know, when you're talking about bringing, you know, people that have done it and you know, obviously people that have done it will always see it differently anyway. There's going to be a certain level of off and test authenticity and depth to them that you're not going to get from a quote unquote guru of some kind. As you're kind of walking through that and you're maybe selecting these folks. How do you know what your, your drip audience actually needs? Like how we. I'm just curious how you develop the, the needs versus the solution scenario.

Yeah, I, I, it's great question. No one's ever asked me that and I don't believe I you, I don't have the audience in mind on this one. I, I go on what I find to be unique and weird and interesting because I'm curious and I figure if I'm this curious than other people naturally be. And usually it is. So for example, when they're talking about the CERN collider and they're going to have this, these little things. So I brought in the guy who discovered the God particle and go, here's what really happens, right? I go, that's weird. And I go, hey, you know holograms.

You'Re having beers over there.

Exactly. So, so I'll tell you one guy I got coming in this time, his name is David. He's the guy who created the Pronto hologram machine. So all over. So he's coming in and he's going to be zooming in some amazing celebrities and stuff like that. And what's, what's cool is that again, I, that's interesting. That's new. That's different. People are watching the Tiger King. They want to hear the other side. They'd love to hear this stuff. And they sure enough do. And so to me, that's what I do. Like, okay, what's the weirdest, oddest thing that's going on that people are talking about? Let's bring that person in so they can go face to face, knees and knees. It's not about the celebrity status. That doesn't make a difference to me. It's more about people that are doing and accomplishing.

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Yeah. Again, for people watching this, an author is a person whose name's on a book. And then there's a writer who wrote two different folks here. So I've authored, yeah, many books, been part of a bunch of different ones. My favorite would probably be 3ft from gold only because it's probably sold a million copies and it's been 45 languages around the world. And I've had the greatest feedback from there. And it's all about, you know, not giving up before the miracle happens. First there's a dream, then there's a challenge, and then comes victory. Unfortunately, the majority of the world stops when the going gets tough. It's the people that persevere and go that extra 30ft. They're the ones that we tell the stories about, they're usually not the biggest and the brightest and the most flamboyant. Like you said, they're the people that persevered one step more. If you go back and go, boy, is Jeff, you know, Bezos the most flamboyant. No, is Zuckerberg. Is Okay. Actually, they're not. It's a people that just kept going and they're the ones that actually leave the biggest, what you'd call legacy in markets going forward.

No, it's good and it's. I'm curious, using that same methodology of perseverance or resilience until you hit your goal, is there a technique, is there a way to know how close you are to, you know, chipping away and getting to that. That next vein of gold? Or like, is there a way or is it just. You just keep going till it works.

You, you adapt and adjust. See, this is what most people get them. And I'm sure you've heard me tell this story before, but I, I remember the guy who started invented this thing. It's called the cell phone. I remember Marty Cooper told me this thing. He said, he goes, let me tell you store about a spider monkey. A spider monkey is the most quick, nimble creature. You can't harpoon it, spirit catch it. It's too wiry. One hunter figured it out, took a heavy log, drilled a tiny hole, dropped the peanut left at the base of the jungle. The monkey would smell the nut, come down from the treetop, reach his hand and grab a hold of the nut and his fist become so big he can't pull it back out, become anchored to the log. All he's got to do is let go. But he holds on, thinking that nuts, nutrition, it's saving him.

Yeah.

The hunter comes by an hour later, captures this elusive spider monkey. But the moral and the question is, are we holding on to our own nut in life right now? But it could be in the form of a job or a car or a deal or the past or fear or guilt or remorse or whatever story we're telling ourselves. And what we're holding on with dear life could also be the thing that's leading to our own demise right now.

Yeah.

Sometimes we have to have the courage and the fortitude to simply let go, adapt and adjust so we can live to fight another day. Chew it. Cathy, founder of Chick Fil A, had the greatest Aha. He said look for and capitalize on unexpected opportunity. He says, if I'm on my sofa and I want to get to the end of the street. That's my goal. I have to get off my backside, take action, and move that way. He goes. Planners overthink. He goes, they're going to plan every step. If a sprinkler comes on, it goes against their plan, they run back home. He goes, I'm looking for opportunity. David can't leave a skateboard or a bicycle out. I can make my journey short. If I get real lucky, I'll wave down a neighbor driving by and hitch a ride. He goes, either way, I'll. My goal. I'm just not so caught up in exactly how it has to happen. So to answer your question is I'm constantly looking for unexpected opportunity, and I capitalize on that to get me to the finish line.

Huh. I can see how focusing on the unexpected opportunity would prevent you from focusing on basically the. The adversity of itself. Like, because if you expect adversity, then you can expect opportunity to be on the other side or surrounding adversity.

Have you ever been. Have you ever been skiing?

No.

Okay. So if people go skiing, they're on top of the hill and they want to get down to the clubhouse. See, I already know that there's moguls, there's going to be black ice, there's going to be snowboarders, trees. So when I hit that thing and fall down, I just know that that was part of the journey. I just got that out of the way. So now I go until that happens. And that happens. Most people see an obstacle, and they call ski patrol, and they go down, and they never have that success. So for myself, I. We just know that that's part of the journey, and we don't get caught up on it. We just. I have our eyes open and don't let that obstacle ruin us again. I'm going to tell you a little story about Truitt that I don't think I've told maybe two or three times in my life. I was in his office, and I think it's Atlanta, Georgia's big thing, and this guy's a billionaire that if they explain his office would be unjust, but it's insane. And he had this one poster, like, tacked into the wall. It was like a hello Kitty poster, and it was a mountain, like, hanging in there. I was, like, going, what? It was so weird to have so much opulence. And then this poster. And I go, I gotta know, man. I go, what? Why? And he goes, well, that's how I live my life as an entrepreneur. And he go, what do you mean? He Says, well, most people see that mountain and they get excited and they want to get to the top, so they run to get a head start. It's not from lack of effort or desire. He goes, but they climb and climb and climb and. But when they have a slip, they fall down to their demise. He goes, not me. He goes, I'm that mountain climber. I go, what's the difference? He goes, well, we understand the power of a simple tool called the carabiner. What we do is we climb up 20ft and we tie ourselves off, and then we go 20ft and tie ourselves off. He says, eventually, when we have our slip, because we're human, we only fall down 20ft, not all the way to the bottom. He goes, entrepreneurs that are successful understand the power of tying themselves off so they don't have that, you know, critical end to their demise when they have a challenge in life come up.

No, that's so good. You know, I was just thinking too, you know, in all the businesses that I built, you know, the first one I built while sleeping in a car, up to, you know, a pretty good sized company. And one of the things that I realized, I was telling my team, this is probably this time last year, I said, I just realized we have a growth year, and then we have what I call an infrastructure year, where all the growth now requires another level of infrastructure. And then we had. And then we have a growth year, another level of infrastructure, a growth year, another level of infrastructure. And lo and behold, you look back, you know, 20, 25 years later, and you build a sizable business with, you know, amazing team members all over the place and revenues and all kinds of stuff. And I'm wondering how many people actually get lost in the. Lost in trying to get to the top of the mountain as quickly as possible, rather than actually bolting themselves in like you're talking about. How's that played out in your end?

That's. That's just brilliant. I. I hope people watching this. Just listen to what he just said. It was freaking brilliant. Yeah, it's. It's interesting. Right now I'm going, this year has been a total infrastructure year for us. And last year before that, had a little growth cut came out of COVID Right now it's been getting systems in place to handle the new growth, and now we're positioned for next year to have our biggest year ever. So it's very interesting. I. Now that I'm looking back 100%, that's how we've been ours as well.

Well, I think, I think in the, in the growth cycle, right? You're. You're excited because you're winning and you're growing rapidly and all this kind of stuff. And then you realize that at certain point of that growth, all of a sudden, all of a sudden it doesn't feel as good because certain something's shaky. You know, the email automation system can't handle the width of the email or the, the funnel on the website's breaking down, or, you know, in my case in the construction industry, I have to buy new equipment or scale into it, or I'm entering into a new state which has different permitting and all kinds of stuff. And I find that a lot of, A lot of business owners, the ones. And this is what had that clip on thing that you meant that you were telling that story is, that's kind of is that same growth infrastructure model, right? You're. That, that point you're anchoring in. You're like, okay, I realize that we don't want to go any higher until we know we're secure. Oh, I love that. I thought it was, I thought some. See you were, you'd like the, you like the elevation story. I like the clip on story. So I guess we're in good, good company.

So. So there you go. And, and it's, it's interesting when we look back in life, you know, some of these little golden gems and nuggets you can, you know, everyone needs another book, like a hole in the head or a seminar. It's about application of doing all these things. The difference between you and I is we get these little ahas, but we go back and look at it, analyze it, and do something about it. It's interesting. I was doing an interview just like this, a podcast, about a year ago or two, and I get one of the greatest epiphanies about my child, about raising my kid. And, and they said, hey, do you give your kid money to do things he doesn't like around the house? Like, you know, pull the weeds and make his bed? I go, absolutely. I go and teach them the power, respect of money. You got to earn it in the thing. She goes, stop What? She goes, that's a shame. She goes, I expected more from you. You're ruining your child forever. And so teach me. And she says, well, think about it. You're training your child from the earliest of memory. The only way to get money is to do something he hates. And I said, well, that's brilliant. So I said, cole. I go, you know, I got a couple million followers on Instagram you make those cool videos. You're a young guy. I go, from now on, you're my videographer. So what I want you to do is I'm gonna pay your allowance and you get all your stuff for doing what you excel at. And by the way, for living in this estate and, you know, getting picked up from school in a fancy car. Why don't we call that contribution back to the house? And we changed that compensation. We changed the paradigm. And by doing so, everything changes. So we just got back from Sneaker Con and he wanted Travis Scott 1400 shoes said, Absolutely. How many videos are you going to make? And now if you notice on my Instagram, he's making all these videos based on doing what he excels at.

Yeah. That's crazy. My son also was going to do our handle my TikTok for a while. He just got married and moved to Charlotte recently. But one of the things that we talked about is trying to put him in a place where he was doing something he was God gifted at. So my oldest son, not gifted at social media, gifted at history. Fantastic. I want to see Excel in history. You know, he wants to become a professor kind of thing. You know, and I was just thinking through that. Another someone, Reese Greg, you know, Grant Cardone, at all, of course. So I was talking to Grant not long ago, and he was telling a story about he actually physically put his girls on an actual, like, employment agreement. And it kind of kind of follows that same kind of model where there's. You get to do what you love, but you also get to pay to do what you love. And you also have a wrestle prosthetic component to it. I think that's amazing.

Yeah. 100, in fact. Yeah. Grant and I, a few years ago were very blessed. We got to fly around the nation and speak to all the military bases for transitioning soldiers that are getting out, going, you know, to real life, and we're teaching them entrepreneurship. And Grant and I had a opportunity to go to the Pentagon and we spoke to all the generals and taps and things of this nature to help, you know, craft some new ideas. How we can help these people that are been so trained and amazing individuals, yet have been told what to do their entire careers and given them another blueprint that they don't just have to fill out a job application. They can take that talent, skill and apply it and actually impact role.

Yeah, that's good stuff. Well, again, I find that, you know, a lot most folks aren't really searching for what kind of what their. What their. What Their stick is what their thing is like. I feel very blessed that people can discover it. What could. What is a couple, three steps to maybe if you don't know what your stick is, but you know you want to live in that zone. What are a couple, couple, three things that you can do to discover it?

Well, I'll do one. And. And I. I go back and say, forget about this stick. So I know this will be a little contradictory, but this is from one of my last books. It's called Wealth Made Easy. I went around the planet and I interviewed people worth a hundred million to a billion dollars for three years. And I sat down with all these billionaire guys to find out what they did. And the. The final aha. Outcome was so dramatically different than I expected. The last chapter. So I'll save everyone the reading. I'll get to the last chapter, sat down with this multi billionaire. I mean, this guy is very wealthy. I said, why are you so wealthy? And I'm not? I go, I'm just as talented. I'm just as connected. I've got all the great resources ahead of me. And I go, I just don't get it. And he says, oh, that's easy, Greg. He goes, you believe all the BS lies that you're spreading to the world because you're the person who keeps us rich. He goes, would you do us a favor and continue that path? And I said, okay, teach me. He says, you're the greatest purveyor of the greatest lie that's ever been told. I said, what's that? He says, to find your passion and the money will follow. He goes, keep telling people that. What are you talking about? And he pulled out a meme I had on my Instagram. I said, follow your passion and not a paycheck. He goes, that's why you're broke, you dumbass. And I went, oh. And he says, look. He goes, you can find a welder who admirable professor, you know, profession. He works their whole life, makes some money, and they retire. They go to a Tony Robbins seminar, get fired up, and they go open a yogurt shop because it's their passion. He goes, 90% of businesses fail. Not because they're not passionate or because they have these seed capital. It's because they're a welder and they're not a yogurt dude. He says, but when they go under, they hold on too long because it's their baby, their passion. So they go down like a ship's anchor, and they pull their car and their house and their boat with them. We come in by that pennies on the dollar. He goes, keep telling people that. He goes, we're like a game of Frogger. We write a log, and as soon as it dips, we jump to the next log. We can never go down. It's just business. He goes, think about it. He goes, do you think that the Gettys who built America or the sheiks out in the desert have passion for crude oil? Does you think that aggregate dealers that built the freeways have passion for sand? Because you think that waste management has passion for dirty diapers and rotten cheese. He goes, but they're the ones that built every university, the ballet, the art, everything that you know and love. He goes, the secret is to create so much wealth and abundance by seizing and capitalizing on opportunity that you use that wealth and abundance to finance your passion. He goes, you guys just do it and teach it in reverse. He goes, but I own the Coliseum and the football team. That people following their passion are given their brain matter down on the field. You can understand that juxtaposition. You might get rich, wealthy.

Oh, my gosh, Craig, dude, I've. I enjoyed having you brother tell us where everybody can find out more about you and kind of maybe even learn about the secret knock.

Yeah, just go to my Instagram, Greg S. Reed. I'm the only person who plays with it. You send me a text. My only request is, I don't talk about the weather, what the kids ate for dinner. But if you go, hey, I'm looking for a business connection. I'm looking for a book to read or whatever, reach out to me. I promise you I'll get back to you right direct. And then door number two, secret knock. It's synchronic. Co I'm telling you right now, secret knock is one of the coolest events you could ever possibly attend because you're going to go face to face with people who are doing what everyone else is just talking about. And people say, well, that's easy for you. Well, now I'm making it easy for you.

That story. Well, it's easy for you because you did this. So I take away that excuse and I put these people right at your footsteps so that you can learn from them as well. And thanks for having me on. I appreciate you greatly. And wherever you do, you keep smiling, Michael.

Take care. See you.

Bye.

I hope you liked that video. And if you did, make sure you check out this next video right here. I think we have really good intentions, and I think at the heart of man is sort of this selfishness and desire to oppose the hard work and oppose the transformation and life change and.