Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Yes, Sex Sells with WeezyWTF

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

From financial domination, to sex toys, to negotiating with a sugar daddy— Nicole and Weezy talk about all things at the intersection of sex and money. Plus, why experts on both or either, shouldn��t be underestimated.  You can find more on all of Weezy’s projects here: https://www.instagram.com/weezywtf/?hl=en 

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I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work, but sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself.

Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Hey guys, are you ready for some money rehab? Wall Street has been completely upended by an unlikely player, GameStop. Are you ready for some money rehab? Wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. My guest today is better known as Wheezy or Wheezy WTF. And if you haven't heard about her work yet, well, you are about to. But in short,

she is a media mogul whose work focuses on, as she puts it, adult sex ed. Today, we dive into the intersection of sex and money by examining things like the sex toy industry and fin dom, or financial domination. Plus, Weezy doesn't hold back when talking about her own experiences as a sugar baby and how she successfully negotiated her rate as one. Well, Weezy, I'm so excited to say welcome to Money Rehab. Thank you for having me, Nicole. My God, you are a boss. I mean, I don't even know where to begin here. In 2017, you and your friend Mandy B started your podcast Horrible Decisions. Then you started a media company, WTF Media. You have studios in LA, in New York. You host a show, Sex Sells. Hello. Do you sleep?

No. It's a lot of work and pressure because I feel like before I was making money just podcasting. So it was like, all right, cool. I'm making money just for myself. But now that there's a team, I want to make sure everybody gets paid and everybody eats. So the more that I'm out there and doing podcasts like this, then people get to know me and then everybody gets to eat. Let's let's get everybody fed. So let's talk about your TV show. Let's start there. Because on this podcast, as you know, we talk about money and how it intersects with all parts of our lives. Yeah, sex sells is all about the intersection of sex and money. So I am here for this content. Can you describe the show for folks who haven't seen it?

Yeah. Actually, it's interesting because the comment was made to me like, oh, Sex Sells is just horrible decisions on TV. It's your podcast on TV. And there's actually no real discussion about sex lives at all. It's truly about highlighting entrepreneurs and business owners. And these particular business owners just do something that's a little more unorthodox. It was so important for me to do that, though, because I started a show about sex, talking about sex. And I was still a little slut-shamey in a way. I thought sugar daddies were okay because I had one. But I'm like, oh my god, but I would never be an escort or I wouldn't do this or wouldn't do that. And a lot of these people, mainly women,

are making millions, generally hundreds of thousands. But I've met millionaires through the business. So I really wanted to humanize everybody and have this TV show where we can walk through their life and their process of business. And I think what made it so interesting... I remember in season one, I did a twerk class. And not that I didn't think I'd have anything to talk about about this woman's business, but it's a mobile business. There's

no brick and mortar location. And she'd had it for a few years. So I'm like, what are we going to talk about? And we talked about marketing and she talked about tagging certain things for SEO, search engine optimization, and how to do free PR. So many people contacted me that own construction companies or nail shops or just anything. And it worked for them. And it's all from people that work in sex work. And that's why I was really like, this is going to be the best show ever because it's sex and money, but it took the sexiness out of the money. It's weird. Can't explain it. They're my favorite taboos, like smushed together. Thank you. You've done episodes on

twerking, on vaginal rejuvenation, on porn, on sexy NFTs. I think we actually had Katie Cassidy on the show where she was masturbating on a canvas or something and sold her NFT. So probably stuff like that, stripping, BDSM, OnlyFans, sex toys, and so much more. I want to double click specifically on sex toys for a second if we can. When I was at CNBC, I did a feature about how sex toy sales spike during recessions. And the reason that that happens from a business standpoint is that sex toys and condoms are cheaper than having kids so I actually got in I thought it's because they were depressed right that too I got in some trouble which I love for doing that feature despite it being one of the most popular on the network's website so what did you learn about

the sex toy industry in your episode on sex toys? Mainly what I learned about the business of sex toys is that, for one, I think everybody wants to be so innovative and reinvent the fucking wheel and they just need to go back to something that vibrates. When we walked through the sex store, I went through a sex store. It was the Pleasure Chest in New York. And I had a lot of fun. But, you know, you see, have you ever heard of sounding? No. Oh, gosh.

Teach me. You guys might even cut this out. This is disgusting, but I'm going to tell you. A sounding tool is just like a stainless steel bar. And it's to insert inside the urethra of a man's penis. And they get literal pleasure from that about like stuffing the hole. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking to myself,

like, I don't have a dick and I can feel it right now. But I think what makes it so insane to think about, particularly with the business is like, it's kind of like when you watch porn, you scratch the surface of one thing and then you got to keep topping it and it gets nastier and nastier. And the sex toy industry is literally just growing for that fetish. I feel like just like not the fetish, but how porn has evolved and how we need more.

Now sex toys aren't enough, right? Now we just don't need a vibrator. Now we need the rose. We keep seeing that, right? We already have the womanizer, which has been the clit-sucking sex toy, and it's known as that, and it's super popular. But now they're trying to reinvent it to be this flower. And now we have this, and now we have that. So it's like anything else. They just keep making copies of things to grow the business. And yeah, I mean, sex is obviously a billion-dollar industry, but sex toys in particular. I got to say, I was the least impressed with their creativity on it. Huh. So, yeah, now it's in 2021. It grew to more than 30 billion from 15 billion in 2016. I mean, all signs are pointing to it continuing to grow, despite what seems like maybe too much innovation, in your opinion.

to grow despite what seems like maybe too much innovation, in your opinion. During lockdown, we unsurprisingly saw there was this huge spike in sex toy sales for a bunch of different reasons. The depressed reason that you mentioned, you know, people didn't want to get COVID probably by having sex. A lot of things. So despite all the fact that it's clearly this lucrative business, do you still see a stigma around both going into the sex toy business and then on the consumer side of buying sex toys? I definitely think there's a stigma around going into the business, even for myself, right? Like,

people look at me now, I think, as like, just podcast guru in a way because I make so much money on podcasting. But most people know me for podcasting and sex and talking about sex or being a sexpert. So I've been approached to do a sex toy, make a sex toy, whether it be branded vibrator or make a copy of myself like a pocket pussy thing. And I think the stigma around being taken serious in other areas of work has kept me from doing it. There's absolutely a stigma. Think about OnlyFans. You have literal American dream, entrepreneurship, right? Making your own schedule. And crowdfunding platforms are so popular. But with OnlyFans, we judge them because we feel like they took an easy way out. If I make a sex toy or if I start branding a sex toy, it puts me in a lane that I think would block me from being able to do other ventures. I did a speech a few years ago. I didn't even know that there was an MLM for sex toys, pure romance. Have you heard of this?

Yeah, it's like Mary Kay. Yeah, girl. I mean, there was this crazy, I think it was in Cincinnati, like this stadium full of women making like a hundred grand in some cases a month from just doing their like Tupperware sex toy parties. Because everyone's having sex. It's just like it's that crowd that no one's like, you know, we were joking earlier before we started filming, let your freak flag fly. Most people that are talking about sex toys are those people like me, right? The freak flag's flying. But the mommy porn types who like 50 Shades of Grey or Sex Life on Netflix that kind of want that kind of stuff, that's the pure romance buyer.

And truth be told, that's most consumers, right? They're not walking into a store so excited to talk to someone about their sex right? They're not walking into a store like so excited to talk to someone about their sex life. They're normally a little more worried. They want the hidden discreet packaging from Amazon or whatever. Like, yeah, I'm not shocked at all that Pure Romance is bringing in the bank like that. It was really interesting because all of these women were entrepreneurs. They wanted to hear me talk about boss bitch. They wanted to hear me talk about, you know, setting up an LLC or an S-corp or all of this type of stuff.

But it's interesting that you're saying they want to hear you talk about starting an LLC and an S-corp. I do want to make mention of something that happened to me that's just super interesting. We talk about sex and money. So when I made the bank account for the Horrible Decisions podcast, I remember we sat down and the guy was like, oh, well, tell me about your business. And we started talking about the podcast. He's like, wait, hold on. Are you selling sex? I'm like, no, we just talk about it. He's like, well, is there any pornography in it? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're trying to explain the podcast. we're showing him our website. They almost didn't want to give us a bank account because we were considered sex workers. And it was super difficult. This is JP Morgan Chase Bank. And I remember we had to go to a different branch,

but yeah, you're talking about starting an LLC, an S-corp, like it's very difficult to collect funds as a sex worker. So I'm not saying I am a sex worker. I'm just saying that when we're talking about the business of sex, a lot of payments are blocked from these women. A lot of transactions are canceled. A lot of shit goes on as far as taking funds and payments working in the sex industry. And so there are a lot of different permutations, obviously, of this intersection.

One of my more popular episodes was on FINDOM. That's something you talk about? Yeah. Financial domination. I was introduced to this by an experience that I had of folks. It was pre-DMs, I guess, slipping into my generic email asking to send me money. Just send me like $10,000 because they saw my book, Rich Bitch, and they fantasized about just giving me money. Did you think it was a scam? Did you think it was a scam? Totally. The girls that worked, you know, on the team at the time, they saw it. They laughed. They sent it over. They

were like, what is this? I'm like, I have no idea. I've never heard of FinDom, financial domination. And they kept emailing and emailing. And they were like, no, there's nothing we want from you or your body. We just want to give you $10,000. And the girls on my team were like, if you don't want to do it, I want to do it. Can I just do it? My assistant saw a DM about a guy wanting I was like selling some like old vintage clothes on an Instagram. I have just like a closet page. And there's a guy who's like, I want Weezy socks and her shoes. And I was like, I'm not doing that. She's like, well, can I?

Yes, that happened to me, too. When I actually started in the broadcast world, I was poor and couldn't even afford new clothes. So I'd sell my old ones, including my old shoes. And I listed it on eBay. And then some guy wanted to pay $100 extra for a photo of my feet. Wow. In the shoes. Look at them scouting girls out on a freaking Buffalo exchange page.

Man, I'll say this much about financial domination. In season one, I talked to a thin Dom. It was on an education episode. And to be honest, it's my favorite episode because my mother's on it and my mom does a sex class. And we talk about like basically how to do a class course, like platform, like how to teach classes, how you charge for them, et cetera. But the financial dominatrix was so interesting because she's like, yeah, like how to teach classes, how you charge for them, etc. But the financial dominatrix was so interesting because she's like, yeah, I can't get payment anymore. Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, because people think I'm performing sex work and all it is is guys just wanting to send me money. And I think it's one of the most interesting forms of sex work because it doesn't seem real.

one of the most interesting forms of sex work because it doesn't seem real. I had a sugar daddy that got me an apartment in New York. It was $6,000 a month. And at the time, this is six years ago, it wasn't when $6,000 made sense. It was gorgeous. And I hadn't had sex with him yet. No one believed me. I'm like, I'm telling you, he just wants to give me money. He just likes saying he did it. It's the same thing with pay pigs, right? Which is generally what you would call the person on the other or the pay, the payer, the payee, whatever word I'm looking for. But basically, the person giving money is the pay pig. Pay pig. Correct. So if the financial dominatrix is collecting, she's collecting from a pay pig. That's a term that's used. That's a submissive.

Yes. And this is all also under a branch of BDSM. It's a dom sub vibe, right? It's just a different type. And yeah, I remember cash meetups was something that the fin dom talked about on sex sells. She's like, yeah, they'll just go to an ATM. I'll tell them to give me money. And they'll beg me like, oh my God, please, I have to pay my rent. I'm like, I don't give a go to an ATM. I'll like tell them to give me money and they'll like

beg me like, oh my God, please. I have to pay my rent. I'm like, I don't give a fuck. Give me all that's in there. And I asked her when you look at the balance, let's say $2,100 in there, how much are you going to take? And she said $2,100. With no like even feeling bad about it. She's like, it's not my problem. They want me to to do this why would i feel empathy or go easy on someone he wants me to drain his wallet he's asking me to do it so i'm gonna do it but there's an arousal to that yes and it's like do your job girl get $2,100 get 22 fucking get the overdraft fee like i really think that fin doms and it's funny because i don't think i could do it because i can't get mean like

that. Like I'll start feeling guilty. I'll be like, you need some money back. Hold on to your wallets, boys and girls. Money Rehab will be right back. I love hosting on Airbnb. It's a great way to bring in some extra cash, but I totally get it that it might sound overwhelming to start or even too complicated if, say, you want to put your summer home in Maine on Airbnb, but you live full time in San Francisco and you can't go to Maine every time you need to change sheets for your guests or something like that. If thoughts like these have been holding you back, I have great news for you. Airbnb has launched a co-host network, which is a network of high quality local co-hosts with Airbnb experience that can take care of your home and your guests.

Co-hosts can do what you don't have time for, like managing your reservations, messaging your guests, giving support at the property, or even create your listing for you. I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work, but sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble, so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host, so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Now for some more money rehab. So there's so much crossover between what we do and the taboos we

talk about every single day. As a financial expert, sometimes when I was dating, men would be intimidated to talk about finances with me or what they were invested in, etc. Are men intimidated to date you or to sleep with you because of your expertise? For sure. Actually, I would say more than my expertise, like having a podcast where you talk about your sex life isn't easy. But as someone that preaches like consent, I don't have sex with people and put it on the podcast without asking them. I've never done that. Maybe an old story. Like if I'm getting back into an old story, like I remember I fucked this guy once and it was haha. Like,

no, but if I'm really engaging in sex with someone like I'm about to bring it up, I'm going to say, are you okay with this? I've never said someone's name, obviously. But even if they have no idea who it is, you're still sharing an experience that belongs to someone. And it's really exposing them. So it's been very difficult for me to date. I was with someone for about three and a half years before I became single. So dating now, making more money and being a little bit more well-known is hard. I had a guy tell me to my face that I have a crush on. He was also in the industry. He was like, there's no way I could date you. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't handle what would happen while dating you. I can't handle what my friends will say. I can't handle what

my ex-girlfriends will say. I can't handle what my friends will say. I can't handle what my ex-girlfriends will say. Like, I can't handle the questions they'll have. And how that make you feel? Terrible. I don't want to be with a man that feels like they can't handle someone thinking their girlfriend's a hoe. First of all, I used to be a hoe. Let's start there. Oh, that's what he meant. I thought he meant that he couldn't handle it if you talked about him on the show. No, I think he meant just period, just my persona.

But like what other people would say that? Yeah, I think most people won't date someone that works in sex work because of that. Think about it. Like, do you really care or is it what other people think of you? Everybody wants the cookie cutter wife so that they can show them off to their friends. But I talk about my cookies you sure do so so there's there's two parts of it i guess so if there's so people are intimidated that you will like sort of tell their stories or sexcapades that y'all are having or whatever because nothing is off limits with you and the show. No, that you're right. Nothing is off limits. And I also think it's the fact that I dive into other people's sex life, delving into someone's full on, you know, realm of sex or the

fact that my sex life, you've got six years worth of content there, right? So someone's going to figure out all my dirt. But in terms of money and dating, I don't know if you've experienced this, but I've found that men that make less than me do way too much to try to like... They're trying to take me to the best restaurants. And I'm like, why? It's like date one. Chill the fuck out.

It's kind of weird. Like overcompensating flex. Way too much. I don't like it. I don't like that they don't have security in that. I realize that I'm 31 years old and I make a lot of money and I don't make money in a common way. I don't have a nine to five, right? So I do something entertainment.

This is like very few people can make money like I do. So yes, you shouldn't feel like you have to compare your pockets to me because we don't have the same job. If we were both doing the same job and I made more, maybe I could see it. But I don't know. I'm in a whole nother world than most of the men I date. So I'm very surprised at kind of how they act. But I like regular dudes that do regular shit. Don't get me wrong. I like to eat food a lot. But like, we don't need to go to Ruth Chris, chill out. So you're down to date somebody who makes less than you. Absolutely. And you're down to date somebody that makes more than you or no. Hell yeah. But, but I think that just like, for the most part, most men that I'm meeting do make less than me. And I think it's totally okay.

Like I don't really feel like they're less of a man. I think that that's a man's own insecurity. I'm totally comfortable with it. So you just want somebody who's comfortable in their skin. You just hold your own weight. Like, yo, if I want to take a vacation this summer, like I want to date someone who can be able to afford it. But I'm not going to ask you to pay for me or you know what I mean? Like I'm not going to be having crazy expectations. The going rate for sex is so interesting because when I talk to

escorts and things like that, I'm always like, how much do you charge? And I swear to you, Nicole, they almost say the same thing every time. What do they say? So like athletes and rappers, when they're meeting them in clubs, she's like, they just want to say they fucked me. There's a lot of like Instagram famous girls. She's like, so the price can go up because they know I've had sex with Drake or whoever. Like men just want to fuck me because they know other famous men have fucked me. And they don't want to say no. So if I tell them $25,000, they can't say no because now they look broke. She's like, they have to pay it. She's like, but I've had sex with fans of... I'm thinking of one girl,

but she's had sex with fans of her OnlyFans and she's like, that felt safe. And she's like, I've charged them like $2,500. That's my lowest. She's like, never take less than $2,500. That's the floor of sex right now. For most of the IG hotties, yes. I would say, just so you guys know your price, hey, the price is right. If there was a whale, $2,500 would be the lowest. Do they negotiate, too? Like, I talk about negotiating your salary in all aspects. I have only heard about negotiations and sugar baby and sugar daddy relationships where they discuss an allowance.

I've had to negotiate on my behalf as well. I wanted $10,000 a month and he wanted to give me six. And I was like, well, I already make 6,000 a month. So I need to be making more with you than I am at my job because I need to be leaning more on you so that I can leave this job and put more time into other ventures. So this isn't worth it for me. I don't want to do a parallel move. And he understood that. And so he gave it to you?

Yeah. That was a lot for me at the time, too. I was living in Orlando, which where $10,000 a month goes a long way and it was tax free. It's even better. Yeah. I did so much traveling. People were like, wow, like, are your parents rich? And I'm like, my daddy is. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. Always think big picture.

Wheezy evaluates potential deals by how it might affect future partnerships down the line. We should all apply that forward thinking filter to our own career decisions. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Mike Coscarelli. Executive producers are Nikki Etor and Will Pearson. Our mascots are Penny and Mimsy. Huge thanks to OG Money Rehab team Michelle Lanz for her development work,

Catherine Law for her production and writing magic, and Brandon Dickert for his editing, engineering, and sound design. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all.