410. “Don’t forget to SMILE” | Creating Philanthrotainment with Barry Shore

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Barry Shore:
Learn to live, enjoy daily. And the best way to do that is utilize that which you enjoy doing, which is the smile. And understand that smile stands for seeing miracles in life every day.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Hello and welcome to The Daily Helping with Dr. Richard Shuster. Food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, tools to win at life. I'm your host, Dr. Richard. Whoever you are, wherever you're from, and whatever you do, this is the show that is going to help you become the best version of yourself. Each episode you will hear from some of the most amazing, talented, and successful people on the planet who followed their passions and strive to help others. Join our movement to get a million people each day to commit acts of kindness for others. Together, we're going to make the world a better place. Are you ready? Because it's time for your Daily Helping. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of The Daily Helping podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Richard. And our guest today is amazing. So amazing that he's actually coming back to the show. His name is Barry Shore, known worldwide as the Ambassador of Joy. Barry is the founder of EinsteinCares.com, whose mission is to give $1 billion to charity without costing any giver a penny.

He's also a mental wellness activist due to his recovery from being a quadriplegic. He's a philanthropist, a multi-patent holding entrepreneur, speaker, author, podcaster, and now he swims two miles a day, six days a week. I'm gonna skip this next piece because we're gonna talk about it a little bit, but his movement that he created, the Keep Smiling Movement, has reached multiple celebrities and distributed millions of keep smiling cards worldwide. And his platform has been featured in Oprah's magazine. Barry's podcast, The Joy of Living, is in the top 2% of all podcasts worldwide with millions of downloads, and it's heard by hundreds of thousands weekly all over the planet. 

If you want to hear a deep dive into the Barry Shore superhero origin story, go way back to episodes 188 and 189. It was such an incredible story we had to do a two-part episode. We'll have links to that in the show notes, but he's back here today with us. I'm honored. We're gonna talk about Einstein Cares. Barry Shore, welcome back to the Daily Helping Podcast.

Barry Shore:
Good day. Beautiful, bountiful, beloved and wonderful beings and good looking people. You're good looking. So, I was looking for finding the good. Now, Dr. Richard, how can I make the categorical statement that all the thousands, tens of thousands of people that are going to be watching this wonderful show are all good looking, because by definition, if they tune in to listen to a work with Dr. Richard, it means they're always looking for and finding the good in life. That's a good looking person, looking for and finding the good in life. I am so humbled and honored to be with you today, because being with you literally is the essence of joy. Thank you.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I wondered how long… I was singing before I hit the record button, how long it would take before we broke into song. Not very long at all. Right on cue as expected. So, again your story is remarkable. And we did a really deep dive back in episodes 188 and 189. But I know your quadriplegic experience – I'll call it that –  is really seminal in why you wanted to create Einstein Cares. So even though we flesh it out in deep in those older episodes, I'd love you to tell us briefly that story again for people that didn't hear that episode and aren't familiar with you because I think it sets the stage for why Einstein Cares exists.

Barry Shore:
So, imagine everybody's listening, watching, if you can, you're standing up in the morning, completely healthy and hearty, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and in the hospital at night completely, totally paralyzed. That's me. And it was not from an automobile accident, and it wasn't from a spinal injury. It was a rare disease, which I never heard of the day before, took over my body and rendered me, as Dr. Richard said, a quadriplegic, which means nothing moved from my neck down. I could only communicate by blinking my eyes. 

It was 144 days in the hospital. I was in a hospital bed in my old home for two years, I couldn't move. I was in a wheelchair for four years. I had braces on both my legs from my hips to my ankles. That was progress. Thank God, today, I'm able to be vertical and ambulatory with the help of a seven-foot walking wand, so I'm a tripod, not a bipod. I can't walk up a stair by myself. I can't walk up a curb by myself. I've had 12 hours a day, seven days a week. However you hear my voice–positive, purposeful, powerful, and pleasant, all because of one word. The word is SMILE! Because SMILE is an acronym that stands for Seeing Miracles in Life Every Day. That's my world, Dr. Richard, seeing miracles in life every day. 

And because of this remarkable event, which certainly, if I had a menu, I would not have checked it off and said, "I'll have that please." Because of this remarkable event, my life shifted. Three years prior to becoming quadriplegic, I had built and sold two public companies, two companies on the internet. I have three issued patents. We've made a lot of money, done very well, very successful. Now, I'm laying immobile. So, to all people who understand, money is beside the point. It's really about health– physical, mental, spiritual–which is one of the reasons I love working with Dr. Richard, by the way, because he understands that well-being is in all three areas–physical, mental, and spiritual. 

So, the whole process for Einstein Cares came about because my wife came into the room one day, again, I'm laying in bed, can't move, barely speak, and she wants to raise money for a great organization called Wheels of the World, where you donate money to people who can't afford wheelchairs. A lot of veterans, stuff like that. I had three wheelchairs that cost over $30,000 total, because you have the electric one and the lightweight one and such. But not everybody can afford a wheelchair. Sometimes, $1,200 for a wheelchair. So, she said, "Can we give $500?" I said, "Yes." 

And then I told her, I said, "Honey, I have an idea. I want to build a platform where people can go shopping and get money for shopping. And at the same time, give money to something they care about, the charity of their choice, so it won't cost them a penny." My wife says, "You're smart, figure it out," and she walked out of the room. 

Now for the next three days, Dr. Richard, I'm laying in bed and I'm meditating, I'm praying, I'm crying. And within three days, I had the exact vision of what's supposed to happen. I knew exactly what was supposed to go on. Who does what to whom for how much and where and when. Only one little issue. The technology didn't exist to support my vision. It took 15 years for the tech to catch up to what I wanted to do. In the intervening time, we had tried a few things and such because after a few years, I was no longer completely quad. I was now able to, as I mentioned, because of aquatic therapy, I could swim. I could move my upper body. 

As I said, I still can't get up from a chair. I'm basically paralyzed waist down. I walk with a seven foot wand. However, I'm able to be getting around. So, I was using my fertile mind to create this great opportunity for again, people go shopping where they want, earning money for doing it and giving money at the same time and the company makes money. This is a for-profit enterprise. So, everybody wins. That's the basis of genuine conscious capitalism. You and I are both very big proponents of conscious capitalism, the ability to make sure that every stakeholder is in a position of benefiting. Am I right? 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Absolutely.

Barry Shore:
Isn't that your word? So, that's the backstory to Einstein Cares.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
It's so fascinating to me that one, this took 15 years for the tech to be right at that spot to where you could make this into reality. And I wonder… I mean, I know you and I know your heart. We've known each other for years and you're a giving person. But do you think had that rare disease never hit you, do you think we'd be sitting here today talking about Einstein Cares? 

Barry Shore:
Thank you for that deep question. I think the simple answer is no. Would I want to build another company to do something? Yes. And let's be blunt, the company I'm building now will make money, a lot of money, for anybody who's involved in it, investors and such like that. And it's driven to help merchants and to help people and help charities. However, that deep determination needed, as you said, a seminal experience, being quadriplegic was a shift for me.

And by the way, a shift like rockets. Like, think of Elon Musk, right? He went through a number of failures on the launch pad before the fourth one went up in space. So, this one is a new launch into a new world. We're democratizing philanthropy. We're making philanthropy fun, entertaining. Matter of fact, even gave it a name, Dr. Richard. Want to hear it?

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Yeah, of course.

Barry Shore:
Philanthro-tainment.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I love that.

Barry Shore:
Is there anything more fun than going shopping, even food shopping sometimes, right? And to be able to earn money and give. You can give money to somebody you care about, it doesn't cost you anything, merely because you went shopping. So, you're supporting merchants that you like, and earning something, and giving something. No, I think the good Lord, let's be blunt, always knows what he or she is doing. And he said, "Okay, Mr. Shore, I need your attention. I like you a lot. I'm gonna put you down for a few years, so you can really get deep inside of you."

I did. And look what comes out–giving. Because the world, the world is based on giving. This is what Daily Helping is about. He's a giver, Dr. Richard is a giver. And when you enter into service as your primary platform, then this can develop. So, yes, I have been an entrepreneur. However, my primary platform was not oriented towards service. I needed that shift. So, I say thank you. Thank you to being a quadriplegic.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I love this. I was pretty sure that was your answer, but this resonates with me. Two of the things that most people would consider horrible, one, for me, when I broke my back many, many years ago; and two, more recently, that stroke I survived. Many people would say, "Oh my God. Who would want that to happen?" Both of those moments shifted my life in such significant ways that I don't know what I would be doing right now had those things never happened. 

And we go through these moments of adversity and we have multiple choices, right? Like I say this a lot, when bad things happen to us, we can do one of two things. We could ball our fist up at the sky and blame whatever deity we choose to blame for cursing us with such a terrible thing. Or we could ask ourselves, what can I learn from this? What are the lessons? 

For me, it's even beyond that. For me, there's this third piece, because I'm blessed to have this platform, like you do, to where I could say, what can I learn from it? And how can I share it with other people, so that they don't have to go through the same thing if it's avoidable. So, I think it's beautiful because you have created this ecosystem. And to me, Einstein Cares feels like an ecosystem. 

Barry Shore:
Dr. Richard, you are so intuitive. When we discuss this with large investors or brands and people who want to participate, we talk about what we've built here is called the ecosystem of good. The ecosystem of good because everybody benefits. Businesses benefit. We want more customers. Every business, the beginning of time, only wants two things. I want to keep my existing customers and acquire new ones. Come shop with me, be with me.

People win because WIIFM is the most listened to radio station in the world. What does it mean? What's in it for me? Wait a minute. I can go shopping or get money for doing that? Wow! And then the best part, because everybody wants to give. However, let's be blunt, you have to write a check every time or give me that. Wait a minute, you mean I go here, I go to a restaurant, I tap my card, I got my cash back, and I gave the equal amount of cash to something I care about and didn't cost me anything? I love the merchant, I love me, I love the charity, everybody wins. This is what we call joy. 

So, you mentioned I'm called the ambassador of joy. Notice I didn't say the ambassador of joy. And JOY is a fabulous acronym. It stands for journey of you. You mentioned your journey. I talked about my journey. Everybody has their journey. That's JOY. 

I would like to add something to what you said because it was so loving, Dr. Richard. When I do my webinars and seminars, and I'm blessed to talk to people all over the world, and in person, recently, I did something for 1172 people. I'm talking about my story, seeing miracles in life every day. People are saying, "Hey,  Barry Shore, Barry Shore, I've been up for hours, I haven't seen any miracles." And I asked people, "Are you here? Can you hear? Can you stand still? I can't do that. Can you walk? I can barely do that. You have water, drink, you have food, a place to sleep, family, friends. Every single one of those is a miracle. 

So, I mentioned about the six words. When you can internalize, utilize, leverage these six words, then your world can shift and keep that in place so the other stuff happens. And the six words you want to use are choice, not chance, determines your destiny. Like Dr. Richard said, how you choose to respond to any given situation will determine your path in life and your trajectory. So, choose to live in love, in giving, in service, in kindness. And guess what will happen? Your world will be filled with joy, happiness, peace, and love. Is that not true?

Dr. Richard Shuster:
It's 100% true. I want to go back to Einstein because I still have some questions about what this is like. You mentioned brands, right? So, you've got some brands you're working with. Name a few of the big brands and tell us just in general how many companies are on this platform.

Barry Shore:
So, this is so wonderful. Let's do name dropping. So, you're right. Overall, at the moment, we have - just for launch - over 20,000 brands. And they range from the best, Amazon the biggest, Home Depot, Best Buy, Nike, Sam's Club, Temu, the things that people buy. We have 5000 restaurants on the platform and 10,000 more coming behind them. This is the first integration. 

So, again everything is done and built on two words - frictionless, seamless. Frictionless and seamless, because what you're doing is you're entering, you're joining Einstein Cares, you're putting in your existing credit card or debit card, so any rewards you get, you're going to stack on top with Einstein Cares. That's it, one time. Now, you go shopping. You can shop online, you can shop in the stores, and every transaction brings you money and gives money to the charity of your choice. And most often, you'll be either solicited or brought in by something you care about. 

So, it's such a wonderful way to live, knowing that you earn and give at the same time. So like Einstein, who was the smartest guy in the world, was also a very heart-centered person. So, you become Einstein. How smart is it to get money when you're shopping? How good is it? You can't get much gooder than giving money and it doesn't cost you anything, right? With all the places you normally go. 

Now, obviously not everything, and we urge people, you want a brand, you want a store, it could be the local nail salon, the electrician, the dentist, we're all welcome to put them on the platform. We don't charge anybody, you only pay when somebody buys something. So, it's a place, as you said so eloquently, Dr. Richard, the ecosystem of good.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I was gonna ask. So, let's say my local independent bookstore or independently owned coffee shop or a charity that I really love isn't on the platform, how do they get on the platform?

Barry Shore:
Oh, this is wonderful. So, let's begin with the merchants because independent bookstores, we love. Once we launched, I have a team, and then one of the silos we're going to be working with are independent bookstores. We love them! The local coffee shops, we love them. You know why? Because you love them! You want them.

And then, now, for them to participate, they get a halo, and you love going there even more, so everything works out beautifully. So, that's the point of view of new – what do you call it – merchants. From the point of view of a charity or a cause, you say to your local charity, I don't know, support a battered women's situation or a local pet shelter or whatever, say, "Well, you should get in contact with Einstein Cares. So, they reach out to us, it's a very simple form, and we reach out back to them and find out who they are, what they do. They're now allowing their supporters to become ambassadors to give money, and it doesn't cost anything. 

So, I'll give you an example right here, and I live in Henderson, Nevada now. So nearby, we have something called the Henderson School for Blind Children. And they have 10,782 people on their database of whom 950 give on a regular basis. Nature of life, right? When I showed this to the director, and I asked her, she said, "First of all, I love this. I want to do this." I asked her, "How many people do you think you'll be able to bring on the platform?" She said, "I'll bring 5,000 people in six months because I'm going to tell them. Why not? Doesn't cost you a penny. You'll make money." So, now, imagine this, 5000 people earning, pick a small number, $8 a month, which is very simple. That would be $40,000 a month from people. It doesn't cost anything. And she doesn't raise $300,000 yet.

So, this is a game changer for charities because every charity in the world doesn't just want money. They want ongoing, monthly, passive revenue. So, whether you have 2000 people in your database or 2 million, this is now a shift because you can go out to your database and say, "We don't want your money. Go shopping. Here's a link." Look at it, it brings them to the charities landing page. Now, you watch the video about how simple and easy this is, and you register your card, and you go shopping. Everybody wins. Isn't this wonderful, Richard? This is what we call conscious capitalism. Everybody wins.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I love this. I want to go back to the transaction piece. You've used the term frictionless transaction a couple times. People have to -I presume it's an app - put their credit card into the app. So first, I guess, this is a two-part question. A lot of people are concerned about hackers and securities. Talk to us about how you've dealt with making it safe for people to do this. 

And then two, at a very, very high level, talk about once somebody puts their credit card onto your platform, how it knows how to do that? How to… okay, transaction happens at Home Depot. Now, how does that percentage end up going to Home Depot or go to the person who's on Einstein and then go to the charity? Talk me through that.

Barry Shore:
Okay. So, this first of all is wonderful. I'm a human being. I work on sites all the time just like everybody listening. So, if I can't feel secure on a site, I'm certainly not going to work with them. So, we use the same level of security as Amazon or Nike or any of the major brands. We work with a third party, it happens to be called Plaid, P-L-A-I-D. They work with almost every major bank in the country. They are the gold standard. 

So, when somebody enters credit card – here's the best news of all, Dr. Richard – we don't know the information. That happens all behind the scenes. So, once it's in the system, the system knows. Doesn't tell us anything. So, all we know is that Dr. Richard signed up, and he is able to make transactions.

Now, let's go to your second point, because this is the safest, most secure platform that exists in the world at the moment. Now, let's go to your second point, which is really fun. Again, I'm not the techno person. I am the person with the image. I have a team, thank God, of very skilled people. And what is happening, as I mentioned to you, it took 15 years for this technology to exist. What technology? The technology is exactly what you said. 

So, Dr. Richard now is a member of Einstein Cares. And without telling me, and he hasn't said, "Barry, I'm gonna go to Home Depot, just be aware, wake up, so you can watch this." No. He goes to Home Depot, buys something that's a $481.72 of stuff, taps his card, walks out. Bingo, the magic happens. What is the magic? Well, Best Buy… No, I'm sorry. Home Depot is a member of our platform. So, they say, "Hello, one of your members," in this case, Dr. Richard Shuster, "just was here and he was very happy." I'm making all this up because they don't speak this way, but this is what happens, "just bought $481.72 of product. And we're now going to send you the percentage that we agree, so that you can now distribute to Dr. Richard his percentage and to Dr. Richard's charity of choice."

Now, again, all of this takes microseconds. All the transactions, of course, by the time we hear about it and you get it, may take 24 hours or so, just because of the nature of all the data processing and such. And that's really how frictionless and seamless it is. It's quite amazing to me. And I'm the one who created the vision. The back office stuff that this happens, again, took decades to be there. So, it comes out from our perspective frictionless, seamless, completely safe and secure. Isn't that wonderful?

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Amazing. It's amazing. I'm gonna ask you a question that I'm most curious to hear your answer because you've done so many things helping so many people for so many years. As you look back, and let's fast forward a little bit of time, and Einstein, of course, is successful, and you think about all the things you've done, when you think about your legacy, what defines that for you?

Barry Shore:
I am the ambassador of joy. I've been privileged to build with a number of people something called the Keep Smiling Movement. And as I'm sure Dr. Richard has all the, in the show notes, you can go to my website, barryshore.com and learn to participate. We've distributed more than six million Keep Smiling cards around the world in different languages for free. 

And the greatest legacy for me is to be able to be of service to people in the way that impacts most directly, which is making sure that people with missions—we call them charities, causes, etc.—have the funding that they want and need in a way that has never been done before. 

With democratizing philanthropy, if I may leave with a story, Dr. Richard, so the people know about something called the Ice Bucket Challenge.  So I participated, did a video, ice water over my head, it was summertime, did a video, sent it out, there were… what? 17 million people around the world that participated. It raised $115 million in nine months, and it was great. 

And then I studied that, and that's why I found the name for what that happened. And I gave the name, it's called Philanthrotainment. Philanthropy in an entertaining way. Because when people have fun, that's my legacy, keep smiling, living in joy, being able to earn and give at no cost. So, when I'm gone, Einstein Cares is giving billions of dollars every year because there are tens of millions of people participating, and all the businesses are flourishing, and causes are getting the necessary ability to fulfill their mission.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
I think you've kind of answered this, but I'm gonna ask you anyway. As you know, because you've been on this show before, I wrap up every episode by asking my guest one question. What is your biggest helping, that one most important piece of information you'd like somebody to walk away with after hearing our conversation today?

Barry Shore:
Learn to live in joy daily. And the best way to do that is utilize that which you enjoy doing, which is the smile. And understand that smile stands for seeing miracles in life every day. You are a good-looking person because you're always looking for and finding the good in life.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Barry, you never disappoint. This was just as special as our last time together, and I'm so grateful you joined us today.

Barry Shore:
May I interrupt and do something that we like to do together and that is to give a hug to each other and to everybody that's watching, listening. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Well, we can do it. We can do it but I want to make sure that I give everybody, again, the way they can find Einstein, which is available everywhere today. I presume they can find that on iOS and Android. Is that correct? 

Barry Shore:
Correct. 

Dr. Richard Shuster:
All right, so we'll have links in the show notes to the Android and the Apple versions of that. But tell us where people can go online and find out more about you.

Barry Shore:
Go to barryshore.com, B-A-R-R-Y-S-H-O-R-E, barryshore.com, and of course, einsteincares.com.

Dr. Richard Shuster:
Thank you. And again, we'll have everything in the show notes at drrichardshuster.com. Before we do, the hug that Barry speaks about, I want to make sure that I give a special shout out and thanks to each and every one of you who took time out of your day to listen to this. If you liked it, if you're inspired, if you are going to go down Einstein Cares and why wouldn't you go give us a follow on a five star review on your podcast app of choice because this is what helps other people find the show. But most importantly, go out there today and do something nice for somebody else, even if you don't know who they are, and post it in your social feeds using the hashtag #MyDailyHelping because the happiest people are those that help others.