Super U Podcast | Passion and Success with Ryan Reynolds
On today’s episode, Erik sits down actor Ryan Reynolds as they discuss his success through acting and business.
Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian-American actor, film producer, and businessman. Reynolds’s biggest commercial success came with the 20th Century Fox X-Men films Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018), in which he played the title character. As a businessman, he holds an ownership stake in Mint Mobile and is a co-owner of Welsh football club Wrexham A.F.C.; the latter was documented in the TV series Welcome to Wrexham. In 2020, Reynolds sold his ownership stake of Aviation Gin to Diageo for $610 million.
5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Qualman is also the inventor of the bestselling board game Kittycorn.
Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.
Super U Podcast | Passion and Success with Ryan Reynolds
Tip #1:
“You know, it’s weird. It really did, though. I mean, you know, when you’re a little kid and you’re in a house, what we sort of feels like when you’re around people that are five min, basically including my, you know, my brothers and my uncle who was always around, it sort of often felt like I was walking through some sort of weird skin covered forest, these huge people everywhere, and you kind of become hyper perceptive, you know, you start to really sort of think about how you’re going to survive. So especially my three older brothers who were so sort of physical guys, and, you know, there was just roughhousing, like for them was always funny. For me, it was like a life-threatening situation, you sort of, you sort of learn to kind of get by on weight using your mind, not your fists. So I became kind of hyper-perceptive as a kid. And I know that that contributed an enormous way to the different paths I chose in life, you know, particularly show business and that sort of thing. I was able to kind of constantly mimic people or watch people and look for tiny signs and big signs of, you know, danger. So yeah, that’s kind of I think that’s how it shaped me mostly, I still struggle with those same things as challenging as they are, and, you know, they they’re also gifts that come with those things, you know, and it’s that same sort of situation where you become kind of incredibly perceptive in ways in which you otherwise wouldn’t you know, you’re constantly kind of sensing you know, both real danger and non existing dangerous so you’re you know, that’s those are things that have really helped me in my work. But yeah, as a kid, it was, it was tough. I was Yeah, I was a kid who had a lot of anxiety, a lot of different kinds of phobias and issues that I had to sort of work through. And it took me a long time to kind of recognize those things as assets as opposed to liabilities. I think it’s understanding of that intersection of nature versus nurture. I think there’s some of it was just genetics I was born with and some of it is circumstances, I think in any household It’s hard being the fourth, the fourth kid you know, that that’s the kid that’s sort of watching and learning constantly as opposed to the trailblazing eldest boy or girl who in any given household.”
Tip #2:
“Well, that’s sort of difficult I mean, I don’t you know, you I think I think I can now say that I’ve done pretty well and the best this I mean, you know, the things I determined as really successful are things that you just sort of have to be the engine on are things that you generate yourself for, okay, content you create yourself for them when that kind of stuff works sort of like the Deadpool stuff, or in that then I feel like I’ve really done something important or something at least that’s important to me.”
Tip #3:
“But begrudgingly and I say that just because they gave us the absolute bare minimum now The money that that to make the movie and it was such a great life lesson because, you know, necessity truly is the mother of invention. And you know that Deadpool is one of the I think one of the most interesting IPS out there because it really meets that intersection of, you know, viral marketing and sort of like traditional fan favorite superhero. So like there’s no money for anything, always just embrace this idea that you know nothing. Because you don’t I mean, I know soon as you think you know exactly how it’s all gonna go down or what audiences are really yearning for you know, they it you can be surprised, you know, so I love that edict. I like the idea that I believe in film, and any endeavor to be a process of collaboration. I think you always have to listen and always ask for help. And the best leaders are the people that hire the best people. So that’s for me, that’s, that’s the thing that I think that’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned is like, you know, just hire the best people you can. People that you connect with people that you love people that you know, you can learn from.”
Tip #4:
“Well, I love marketing, and I love gin. So it was kind of a natural, natural marriage. Aviation gin is a craft spirit, an incredibly fast-growing craft spirit that I have which I am one of the owners of. It’s been around since 2006. It was created in Portland, one of the only it’s highest rated in the United States, which is important to score to 97 wine-tasting magazines. And it’s one of the one of the only spirits that was created through the collaboration of both a distiller and a bartender, which is if you think about it would kind of the best possible way to create any sort of spirit for people who are experts in their field coming together creating the thing that I think consumers would absolutely love. So that’s aviation gin, in a nutshell, or bottle, I’d never done it. And it was only because it was sort of kind of weirdly like this and the footprint of the Deadpool story, which is that I just found this thing that I really believed in. And the last time I had a feeling like that was Deadpool.”
Tip #5:
“There is for me, and I’m watching it happen right now. I mean, you know, I bought into the company, it was a 20,000 case a year business, and now it’s 40,000 kids see your business and that’s in less than one year. I attribute that to just exposure in anyone who tries it. Base basically switches to that brand. So the more people you can get to try it, the better your businesses and you lead with, I can never be as great an ambassador for aviation gin as aviation genuine. So for us, it’s really an intersection of a product that is better than anything else on the market. And then also marketing. We love marketing. And so marketing aviation gin has been one of the most fun endeavors that ever had.”
Tip #6:
“Well, I mean, nontraditional marketing is the biggest one. You know, I don’t and my partner George and I both sort of feel like you know, paid the paid ad business is a little tricky these days. And not necessarily something that catches waves the way you know, digital and viral marketing does. And again, it goes back to that same lesson I learned on Deadpool which is necessity is the mother of invention. We don’t have a marketing budget the way some of the big massive, you know, century-old gin companies do ours is tiny. And because of that, we have to think out of the box and because of that, we have so much more fun doing it. So creating aviation gin content has been one of the great adventures of my life.”
Tip #7:
“I want to grow it even no matter what happens, even if it’s acquired. Tomorrow, I have to be a part of its DNA still. So it’s, it’s something I am truly passionate about. So, you know, hopefully, I’ll get to be a part of this for the next 40 years, whether I’m the owner or someone else, I probably would, but I have to find something that I really truly believe in. I couldn’t just sort of do it. So I don’t have time for that sort of thing. I don’t want to know, I mean, it’s just it’s, it’s a matter I think you have to have an authentic connection with something you don’t want to just I just don’t want to be guys just acquiring crap just to acquire crap, I have to have a really authentic connection with it. Otherwise, I think, you know, the audience, the people that the consumers, whatever that product is, they’re gonna know that I don’t have that same sort of fluency with the whatever the product is, I have to have a connection with it. And if I don’t, there’s no point.”
Connect with Ryan Reynolds:
Instagram: @vancityreynolds
Twitter: @VancityReynolds
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VancityReynolds
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vancityreynolds
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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
