About Reed

There is a shorter version on the homepage, but this is for those who want to know more about who I am. I grew up in the small town of Liberty, Illinois. A town of around 600 people where everyone knew everyone. Growing up, I was a part of as many activities and organizations as I could: track and field, cross country, Boy Scouts of America, Quizbowl, FCCLA, Operation Snowball, band, and an active member of my local church. I grew up with my parents, brother, and various dogs throughout my life.

My start in performing was rather sudden. I somewhat learned how to play the piano mostly to entertain myself, but it grew into entertaining others. Having stage fright in my younger years, even though I still do from time to time today, I wanted to do more. So, I turned to learn magic.

It never grew to anything more than a hobby or party trick as I never wanted to do any shows for magic, but it became the go-to fact about me. Everywhere I went, someone was asking me to do magic. I was no Criss Angel or David Blaine, but I was pretty good for a 15-year-old.

In March of 2016, a hypnotist came to my high school. I had known about hypnosis, but it was never something I intended to explore. Enter Dr. Jim Wand. An hour and a half later after his hypnosis show, I became obsessed. It was one of the most amazing, funny, and phenomenal experiences I had ever seen. Magic was pretty neat, but hypnosis seemed like the real deal. Even though I wanted to learn, it would seem like the only way was a couple thousand dollars and a flight to Las Vegas since that's where most trainings take place. Well, being a 15-year-old kid, this was not going to happen.

I spent the next year trying to uncover the secrets of how it worked via the only thing I had: the internet. I watched all the YouTube videos I could, read as many articles on hypnosis as I could find, even attempted to use the Wiki-Hows. I was unsuccessful.

Fast forward to June of 2016, I decided to completely change my approach. Instead of snapping my fingers and shouting 'SLEEP' at every person I met, I tried an extended, relaxing approach. To mine and everyone's amazement, the volunteer who offered to step forward suddenly slumped over in his chair. I had done it!

Over the next several months, I ran with that method, memorized it, adapted it, and hypnotized as many people as I could. Albeit, I got in trouble just as often as my high school was not pleased with my newfound hobby. I was the reason my school included a 'no hypnosis' rule at school functions.

Skip to March of 2017, Dr. Jim Wand was back for another show. This time, with some encouragement from other students, I went up and introduced myself. Apparently, he had already known about me since the students running our local FFA chapter had told him about a student who had learned hypnosis. It also helped him figure out it was me as I was the only person who laughed at his joke about using pocket watches for hypnosis since I used them for all my inductions.

After I graduated high school in 2017, Jim and I remained in contact throughout my years at John Wood Community College while he helped me learn more and more about hypnosis, even asking me to perform alongside him at some local functions. Just before my last semester at John Wood, he offered me a year-long internship/mentorship where I would travel alongside him for all his shows, and he would teach me everything I needed to know. After graduating from John Wood in 2019, I moved to Dubuque, Iowa to begin my training. It was everything I could have dreamed of as a performer.

Before COVID-19 hit, we had done over 100 shows in 14 different states. Of course, Covid shut everything down and things became quite sluggish after that. Still, I was able to continue my training in the office. Before Covid, I was trained enough to begin performing on my own with the guidance of Jim.

After my internship ended in 2020, I moved to Macomb, Illinois to continue my formal education at Western Illinois University. I have since graduated with my Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Marketing. I now live in the Chicagoland area with my wife living out my dream.

Since the beginning of this journey, I have done many, MANY shows, and have hypnotized thousands of people in hopes of hypnotizing thousands more. Contact me to learn more!