TAPE 1. [OFF CAMERA COMMENTS] CYNTHIA McFADDEN Well, thank you for sitting down and talking to you to us about this. BOB PROCTOR My pleasure. CYNTHIA McFADDEN Tell me a little bit about making the, the, the video of the, the DVD of The Secret. How did that process work? BOB PROCTOR We just went into a room, or I did – anyway, I just went in…into a room and sat down and, uh, Rhonda Byrne asked me a few questions and I started to give her my perception of what she was talking about. CYNTHIA McFADDEN How did, how did she contact you first? BOB PROCTOR Well, you know, the, uh, that’s an interesting story. Uh, she had my cell number and she had flown in from Australia. And she had the book that I wrote, You Were Born Rich. That was the only thing she took on the plane. And so when she got here she wanted me in this movie. And she had her sister, Glenda, phone me. But it was such a garbled message on the phone I couldn’t understand it. And I didn’t delete it but I didn’t listen to it, either. And I just kept hitting pound and putting it ahead. Finally, after about a month, I asked Gina, that works with me, I said, Gina, try this number. I think the name’s Glenda and I think this is the number. And she phoned and they said that they really wanted me in this film that they were shooting. The crew was in from Australia but they were going back next week and they were working all weekend in Aspen. And Gina said, That’s strange. Bob’s doing a program, a seminar, this weekend in Aspen. And I hadn’t been to Aspen for two or three years. And I was in the hotel right next door to where they were shooting. CYNTHIA McFADDEN Coincidence? BOB PROCTOR Well, there’s attraction again, you see. I just went in and sat down and went to work and that was it. CYNTHIA McFADDEN You know, she, she says in, in the book that these ideas are not new ideas to her. BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Um hum. CYNTHIA McFADDEN In fact, there were, there were two possibilities— BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] They weren’t new ideas to anybody, really. I mean, they’ve been around. I could show you books that I’ve got, two or three hundred years old, where they are. You, uh, you go into the Upanishad -- some of the most ancient writings there is – and you’re gonna find it. So it’s, anything’s a secret if we don’t understand it, I suppose. Earl Nightingale, in 1959, made a recording, The Strangest Secret. And the strangest secret is you become what you think about. Earl was a radio broadcaster – quite a famous one. And, uh, Columbia gave him a gold record for that. It was the first record outside of the entertainment industry that had sold over a million copies. Now, that was in 1959. And that was a big deal at that time. And now this comes out, 2006 or –07, and it’s a big deal. CYNTHIA McFADDEN Given the fact that so many of these ideas have been written about before… BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Yes. CYNTHIA McFADDEN -- some of them quite fully by, by you and others -- why do you think this book has struck a chord? BOB PROCTOR I think, I really think that the genius is in the editing and the way it was all put together. Uh, uh, I don’t know as anybody else could have done it. Rhonda Byrne did it and I think that’s what made it happen. I think she has an understanding or a way with this that no one’s ever had before. I’ve been in this industry for thirty-eight years and I have never seen anything that will even come close to this. And I believe the message resonates with the soul. I think, I believe we’re spiritual beings. I think spirit’s always for expansion and forward expression. That’s why we want to do better. If we run we want to run faster. If we jump we want to jump higher. If we sell we want to sell more. I think that’s part of our nature. I think there’s perfection within us and that perfection is always trying to express itself. I believe this recording resonates with the higher side of Cynthia and Bob. CYNTHIA McFADDEN Listen, the marketing didn’t hurt any, either – nor did getting on Oprah. BOB PROCTOR Well, yeah, but why did it get on Oprah? The marketing is all viral marketing. There was no advertising. CYNTHIA McFADDEN What do you mean by viral marketing? BOB PROCTOR Well, uh, you tell two people, they tell two people, they tell two people. It was word of mouth. There’s been no money spent on advertising. CYNTHIA McFADDEN No money spent on advertising? BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Um, not to my knowledge, no. Uh uh. CYNTHIA McFADDEN So you’re saying this was a real people’s movement in some ways, the fact it was a success. BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Absolutely, absolutely. I think it, I think it gives people what they’re looking. I find it amusing that anybody would criticize it. Do you know, it’s always been around. The law of attraction’s always working. The fact that we don’t know it is another – That’s like saying the sun’s not shining. The sun’s always shining. You may not see it but it’s always shining. The law of attraction’s always working. CYNTHIA McFADDEN I want to talk specifically about the law of attraction in a minute. But just, just a couple of other things about you and, and how she came to you. And I have a copy of your book, You Were Born Rich. Um, wh…wh…you’re a lecturer and primarily. BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Yes. CYNTHIA McFADDEN [OVERLAP] So talk a little bit about – uh, and you’re identified in the film as a philosopher. BOB PROCTOR Well, I’m not quite sure what a philosopher is. I, I, I read where a philosopher is a person that seeks the truth through reasoning, uh, versus scientific facts. So I guess you could say I am. But I, I see myself as a sales person. I see myself as a businessman, uh, a teacher. I’ve been teaching seminars now, I’ve been teaching this material for thirty-eight years. I love it. I have watched company sales go up by hundreds of millions of dollars when people start to understand this. CYNTHIA McFADDEN You have worked with a lot of Fortune 500 companies. BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] I have, absolutely. CYNTHIA McFADDEN Tell, tell me about that. BOB PROCTOR Well, I went back, I worked for Prudential thirty years ago – the, which was the largest insurance company in the world. And we saw their sales go absolutely wild. In fact, they sent psychologists out trying to figure out what I was doing. All I was doing was introducing the people to them self. See, through our educational system we know virtually nothing about our self. We really don’t. CYNTHIA McFADDEN So what do you teach? What are you tapping into? BOB PROCTOR Uh, I think I’m tapping into the essence of a, of an individual and helping them develop an awareness of who they are, why they’re doing what they’re doing. School is, uh, solely dedicated to the development of the intellect. So you’ve got people out there with a highly developed intellect – bad paradigm, bad programming – so they’re getting poor results and they’re really smart. And they’re wondering, Why am I getting such poor results? That’s, we’ve got all kinds of educated derelicts wandering the street. CYNTHIA McFADDEN So your, your training is not academic training. BOB PROCTOR Absolutely not. I think academic training is doing a lot of harm. Academic training is where we give people information. If they can remember it and repeat it then they get a degree. But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to perform. And so we see people with degrees that don’t know how to perform. They’re, they’re broke or in debt. They’re not overly happy. They’re extremely frustrated because they see someone that they know isn’t anywhere near as bright as them and they’re doing so much better. CYNTHIA McFADDEN So you, you, you were a success before The Secret. But has The Secret added to business? Is that what has been – BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Oh, absolutely, The Secret’s added to business. Abso…sure. Any kind of publicity is always going to add to business. And, yeah, it’s changed our business quite a bit. But I’ve been in the business for a long time. Uh – CYNTHIA McFADDEN [OVERLAP] So, if, if you have to fill it out on a form, you’re in the business of what? BOB PROCTOR Personal growth, personal growth, personal development, yeah. CYNTHIA McFADDEN So, so let’s go through it very specifically, cause there have been a lot of questions raised about exactly what The Secret is teaching. I – BOB PROCTOR [OVERLAP] Sure.