More Money Podcast - 166 From Teen Mom to Millionaire Entrepreneur - Farrah Abraham, Teen Mom Star & Entrepreneur

Episode Date: September 5, 2018

To kick off Season 7 of the Mo' Money Podcast, I chat with Teen Mom star & entrepreneur Farrah Abraham about success, overcoming obstacles & balancing work with being a single mom. Long description: It’s the first episode in Season 7 (yes, 7!!!) of the Mo’ Money Podcast, and boy do I have a treat for you! This episode has been a long time coming. If you know me, then you know I’m a huge reality TV junkie. And one of the shows I’ve watched from the beginning is MTV’s 16 & Pregnant and its subsequent spin-off series Teen Mom. I’ve followed the cast members over so many years, I feel like I practically know them. Since I have been such a long-time fan, when I first started this podcast over 3 years ago, I made a list of dream guests. These were guests I hoped to have on the show once I hit a level of popularity that I could realistically get them to come on. Well, one of those dream guests was Teen Mom‘s Farrah Abraham. If you’re watched the show, or read celebrity news, you may know she’s a bit of a controversial figure. She’s outspoken, she’s worked in the adult industry, and she isn’t your typical Teen Mom reality star. What I mean by that last bit is that most of the cast members on Teen Mom (and Teen Mom 2 for that matter), seem to mainly earn their bread and butter from the show and being a social media influencer. A few of them have started clothing lines, but in general, none of them have shown as much entrepreneurial spirit as Farrah. There’s a reason for that, which we get into in the episode. Basically, Farrah has always wanted to be an entrepreneur and start her own businesses, even before being on the show. And despite what I thought, in that the show helped her get to where she is today, it actually hindered her in a lot of ways with lots of doors closing on her. Nonetheless, she sure has more drive than most 27 year-olds. That’s why I wanted to focus on that for this episode, because from all the episodes of Teen Mom and articles I’ve read about her, I kind of felt like no one really asks her about her entrepreneurial journey or how she was able to build up a net worth in the millions at such a young age. Personally, I don’t really care what’s said about her in the news or that she has businesses within the adult industry. I don’t judge people for how they earn their money. What I do judge people on are how they treat others, how professional they are, and how dependable they are. Farrah ticked all of those boxes, being nothing but pleasant during our interview, and being professional enough to reschedule our interview after our first interview date was cancelled due since it was on the day of the whole Beverly Hills Hotel situation. Entrepreneur First, Reality Star Second One of the things I found fascinating when talking to Farrah was that she considers herself above all else an entrepreneur, not a reality star. She’s definitely a reality star, considering she’s been on 16 & Pregnant, Teen Mom, Couples Therapy, Botched, Celebrity Big Brother UK and Million Dollar Matchmaker just to name a few. She wanted to prove to young girls that it is possible to finish school and have a successful career, even if you are a teen mom. More than that, it also shows she doesn’t want to be famous just to be famous. Now, she uses her fame to create new opportunities and build up her portfolio of businesses. For full episode show notes, visit: https://jessicamoorhouse.com/166 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to the Momany Podcast. This is season seven of the show. I'm your host, Jessica Morehouse, in case you didn't know. And I say welcome back because I took a bit of a break in the summer. I kind of ended season six at the end of June, took July and August off, and man, was it the right decision to take some time off. I was getting a little tired and needed some time, some space to kind of recharge. And now I'm excited because I've got an awesome season for you this season. And I'm pretty stoked because during the summer, I was able to nab my first guest for this season, who is someone I've been following for a long time, like years, decade. I'm not sure how long this show has been on. But anyway, I kind of teased about it in my email newsletter. If you're not on there, make sure to get on there, jessicamorehouse.com slash subscribe. But my next guest is someone,

if you're a reality show junkie like myself or read kind of people.com and all those kind of celebrity type things like I do, I can't help it. I love it. Then you already know who this is. I'm talking to Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham. So she was on 16 and Pregnant on MTV and then on Teen Mom for a number of years. No longer on the show but doing a ton of interesting stuff. And the reason I wanted to have her on the show is, honestly, she is in the tabloids a lot. She's in the news a lot.

She was actually in the news the original date we were supposed to record this. Because of a situation that she explains kind of later in the episode. But she was super nice and gracious and rescheduled within a week. And yeah, she was actually really great. She gets a lot of flack, you know, online and the tabloids for, you know, being controversial or hard to work with, all that kind of stuff. So I wanted to actually really interview her and get to know her for myself and see like, okay, what's, who is she? Is she really, you know, like she's represented, you start a number of real legitimate brick and mortar businesses and continue to grow her own brand and utilize kind of the attention and fame she garnered from being on MTV for so many years to continue to grow her business. And honestly, I'm pretty sure if we looked at the net worths of most of the stars of

Teen Mom, I'm pretty sure she's the only one who's probably a millionaire. Could be wrong, but just going to put that out there, most likely. So anywho, in this episode, we really dive deep into who she is, what's her background, and what kind of advice she has, how she's able to kind of deal with all this kind of controversy and negativity in her life and just some inspirational kind of things. Because yeah, it was an interesting episode. I think you're going to really like it. But before we get to that episode, I just have a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Mo Money Podcast is supported by Vanguard Investments Canada.

Unless you've been living under a rock, then you've probably already heard of Vanguard. Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management companies and is one of Canada's leading providers of affordable index ETFs and actively managed mutual funds. Not only that, you've heard me talk a lot about index funds on the podcast, right? Yeah, well, Vanguard launched the first ever index fund in 1976, changing the investment landscape forever. Vanguard is on a mission to keep costs low. Lower fees on mutual funds and ETFs means more money in your pocket as an investor. There's even a thing called the Vanguard effect, which is when Vanguard sets up shop in a new country like Canada, and they help drive down costs in the investment industry because no one can compete

with their low fees. Since they opened their doors in Canada in 2011, the industry's average MER on ETFs went from 0.44% to 0.37%. That may not sound like a lot, but it actually equates to saving Canadian investors tens of millions of dollars per year in fees. I'm also a proud Vanguard investor myself, holding a number of their low-cost ETFs in my own investment portfolio. To learn what funds I hold and more about Vanguard Investments Canada, check out my blog post all about them at jessicamorehouse.com slash Vanguard. Or head on over to vanguardcanada.ca for info on their funds, how to start investing, and how you could save thousands of dollars on fees by choosing

low-fee funds for your investment portfolio. Once again, visit vanguardcanada.ca. Thank you, Farrah, so much for joining me on the Moan Money Podcast. I'm stoked to chat with you today. Thank you for having me. Let's talk about money and entrepreneurship. I love that. Yeah. So you probably already know this. Huge fan of yours. I've been watching Teen Mom since the beginning, which makes me feel really old. I guess I'm like, oh, wow, that was a long time ago when this show started. And you're 27 now, aren't you? Yeah, I'm 27, just fresh, fresh off the private jet. Happy birthday.

I know, I saw the photo. Happy birthday. Thank you. Thank you so much, yes. And I am chicken 27. It's like my lucky number. So, yeah, I'm just working and continuing on with all that I do. Yeah, and you do a lot.

So I did some research on you because I knew, obviously, from the show, you have a lot of businesses. There's a lot of things I didn't actually know. So, you know, first off, obviously, you're a New York Times bestselling author. That's amazing. But you have five total books. Wow. I was so excited about that when that happened.

Yeah, I bet. That's like, you know, super bucket list goals right there. Beyond also obviously having your kind of online businesses and influencer, reality star, stuff like that, what I found so interesting that was focused on Teen Mom was when you, and I think it was all throughout 2016, when you opened up three different retail stores. I would love to kind of start with that because I thought that was so fascinating that, you know, it probably, I always thought you would take the direction of like, okay, you know, just building your online brand and business and stuff like that. Maybe have some products you sell on a website, but to open some like brick and mortar stores in Texas,

that's like, you're not just playing around, you know what you're doing. Like, that's not an easy thing to accomplish. So why did you decide to do that? I know you have a business background, like I think also many people may not know, but you have a couple of degrees. Yes, I do in management and culinary arts. And I think that's where, you know, a lot of people don't understand like where I came from, which was Council Bluffs, Iowa, Omaha, Nebraska, Gulf Midwest, all the way. And my, you know, at that time in my life, all I really wanted to do, like God planted a little dream seed in me, which was to open my own restaurant. And for me, I like enjoyed, you know, with my

daughter who is now nine, her father and I, before he passed away, like he loved cooking me meals. It just brought everyone together. My family growing up. I mean, we even sold in grocery stores, Whole Foods, Whole Foods and everywhere else, our Italian pepper sauce, wine and everything else. And so I grew up with some great food, loving this. If this was the only time we could get together with around food and get along, like that's what I really envisioned. So I got my degree in that and I worked my butt off throughout filming the show, which was so chaotic because people just treat you different while you're on TV and you're on magazines and people are seeing your personal life. And it just gets really hectic while you're trying to just focus on your business and people don't take you so serious while you're

focused. So I got my degrees, an accelerated program. I graduated high school early. So, and then I was just like, you know what, I still have this dream. And through getting my, through graduating and getting my degrees, they like my instructors really just tore my heart out over my passion of what I wanted to do in my own unique way in this world when it came to food. So I literally had to take a year off of everything. I didn't work. I didn't do anything. I moved to Florida and I was like, you know what? I'm going to pick up. I'm still going to find something in food, food service that I know I want to do. I can't tolerate how people are treating me from however they're perceiving me. So restaurant and handling all

that craziness and my friends, you know, they were owning restaurants at the time. They were like saying, oh my God, people are still in my six out of my freezer. They're still on all this alcohol. Like I just, it was so much headache. And so I was like, okay, I can't handle that. I don't want any more headaches, but I do want something that's good for families and kids. My daughter would love, and I came up with, maybe I should go get approved for a franchise in frozen yogurt. And that's where my heart still was set coming from the Midwest and Iowa. So I applied to do all the franchises and Sweet Frog, you name it, mentioned all of them approved me, right? Because you got the money. So yeah, you're approved, you're approved. But then they got all political,

which was, oh, well, we don't know if all of our stakeholders will be okay with like having a public figure part of this and owning this. So you know what? That pushed me even harder. I go, you know what? I have the knowledge. I have the schooling. I have the money. And you know what? I'm going to just create my own brand and it's going to be better than theirs. So that's what I did was I created FroCo and my COBA, the coffee COBA, our amazing mascot. We've been open for two years now, killing it, just having fun, taking over where we were. And God ended up sending me from Florida to Austin, Texas. I had tried to open up and to find locations in Omaha, Nebraska and Iowa. There wasn't what I needed for this location. Like when I'm looking at schools and population and all these

things are so important on your brick and mortar location, it's super important. And then in Florida, I mean, a lot would be like a million dollars. I'm like, how am I going to be selling that much frozen yogurt? So I ended up trying to search and do like, you know, with the census bureaus and all their research that they have, I was like, what is most open to entrepreneurs, self-starters, and making it happen? So Austin, Texas popped up, and I ended up finding a suburb, Lakeway, where our stores, all three of the stores, and Froco was the first one to open up. I found a second location, happened to get along with a commercial agent at the time and bam froco was made i had to sign the lease and i had to open within 30 days that was the craziest little stipulation i've ever had to

deal with upon now i've dealt with crazier things but yeah so yeah i literally called got all the equipment open figure out pos um you, consistently hiring, firing, organizing, training. I tried to incorporate, as we saw in MTV's Teen Mom, my mother and my father. I spoke at South by Southwest Entrepreneur and Business Talks about ProCo and all my stores here in Austin, Texas. So I've learned so much and it's been such a thrill. It's been an exhilaration of a dream that I had just to try to utilize my college degree. So I'm happy I can celebrate that moment. Yeah. That's where we are with SoPro. Yeah. What I loved about the show too, because it did show you opening the business and stuff. It's like, you didn't just like,

you weren't one of those celebrities that just opened a business and then you kind of walk away. It's like you legit knew how to run that business and like do every element of all the jobs, which for me, I'm like, how would, I wouldn't even know where to start. I mean, obviously you have to do your research and know how to do that. And so to do that with Froco, okay, you know how to do that, but then you also have a children's clothing store and a furniture or furniture store. Yeah. How do you know? Well, I'm kind of curious, why did you choose to kind of do two other very different non-food related businesses?

And how did you learn how to even start those? Because very different businesses, very different products you're selling. Yes, great question. So I kept looking at this area where I found a spot for Proko. And at the time, I had lived there for about two years, I was seeing just and I actually built a home out there. And then I purchased another home. And I was, you know, playing around with real estate too at the time.

So that's why I met the commercial agent, one thing led to another. So now I'm like looking around and I see all these opportunities to, I mean, like this, this community is booming. This community is opening up. It's growing. It's thriving. I see like the plans for the next 10 years. So I see that there's this mall being built and I see everything going in there. And I'm like, you know what? I, maybe I can take on a bigger mall project. Yeah. And I looked into, you know, I selected two spaces. I was starting out trying to, you know, be conservative. And through this process, I tell you, no process is easy.

You will not ever know what you're ending up with, I swear. They ended up switching these spaces. After we started, I got my contractors. And I ended up like doubling each space that I initially leased. So, wow, that's like a total change. And it's like, what? Because that means you have more square footage to pay for. That means it's like, okay, your business plan, you submitted and got approved for it, which was very difficult in and of itself to get approved for malls, bigger, larger commercial malls these days. And I was just like shocked,

like, okay, I don't want to say no to a great opportunity. But wow, can I handle this? And the first year, I would say out of all these businesses, I took under a huge undertaking with the mall spaces of retail. I love, love, love, love with all my heart, my passion, furniture, interior design. And for years, I was going to all the home markets, I would buy wholesale with my reseller's license and sell online and sell to some of my family members furniture. So that's why this is where it all started. I just had a love, I started selling it privately. And I was like, okay, let me open up a storefront. And the same way with children's stuff, you know, always selling, reselling with

my daughter's things. And Sophia just loved going to the markets with me. And I was like, okay, I, I would love this every day of my life. And that's how it really was with Girlco as well. If I can spend the rest of my life running this store, running this business, this is what I'd love to do. And that's the Iowa girl in me from day one. So, yeah. So I know it's backwards, forwards. It's so much harder to pull something over my eyes. I know what's going on. And that's what makes me an amazing business person.

It's not like many of my other celebrity friends. Yes, I'll put the money. I'll have my face be involved. But then they step away and they really take a big loss doing that and for me I was like I'm in this I hope to open up more locations but now later down the road I can answer more questions about opening more locations so yeah now it's going on yes approaching two years this October for both Furnished with Era and Cilia Rent. And it has been a whirlwind from the mall being sold to another company to now hotels are being built here. And there's so much growth still to come for this mall. But that's where you have to be aware of taxes,

different liabilities. And you hope that you can hustle. I always say is hustle that and make sure that your rent and you're covering your costs and those things like that, which I definitely have been just on top of because I was like, oh, I look at this as like a challenge rather than being bored with an everyday store. I really have some fun challenges ahead of me. Yeah. So it sounds like from you creating these different stores,

you were really, and you were, you know, doing the show and everything like that. It seems like you were putting plans in place. So if something happens, you're no longer on the show, you're going to be fine because you actually have legitimate business to fall back onto. Yes. Yeah. Legitimate businesses. I'm involved every week or if not every day, if I need to. Um, yeah, I, you know, and to me, it's just, I kept hearing over the years, you know, well, what are you doing? Just TV. And I have to say, when you are a top reality star, when you are a top national celebrity,

literally, I traveled the world for TV shows last year, this year. And it's just like, you know, I don't really need to worry about what I do, but I have to say this. I'm beauty. I'm brains. I'm gifted. I'm talented. And I want to be respected as a business person. And for now, you know, once these stores are going and they're great now, now I'm merging into film, like screenplay, growing my portfolio in production, all the background spaces, not just being in front of the camera, but also creating projects. And that's what I love. So I think I just balance,

I'm just an entrepreneur. I balance myself. I have a million things going on and I wouldn't, I wouldn't change my life any other way, you know? Yeah. And it sounds like a lot of that is driven by like, and correct me if I'm wrong, like the desire to have that financial security. And that's one thing I found in my life when I feel more financially secure, got money in the bank, got businesses, lots of different avenues where income is coming in. You feel more confident taking more risks, doing new things, but also saying no to opportunities that, you know, if you only have one stream of income, like, you know, if you're just on the show and that's your only source of income, well, you know, you're, you are in a situation where you can't say no, if they're like, we want you back, or we're going to do a different

angle and you have to say yes, because this is your only stream of income. Yeah. Well, that's an interesting topic. So I have seen in the past, I see all the time, it doesn't matter if it's TV or some other field that I'm working in, People like to hold money over you or control you with money. And when it's your personal well-being and those things, I don't take light of that. But I have been fired and given the opportunity to come back to MTV because they like to make me out one way and I'm really like the opposite. So it's always like a conflict of interest or politics. So I just said, you know what, if I can, if I can balance doing it all so I don't have to pay attention to the things

I don't like, even if it's like something I've been a part of, I go, if I could switch it around. So it's like something feasible for me to do and time-wise and keep going and look good on my businesses, my portfolio, my resume. Then I'm like, I have no problem accepting it. But do I really need to do half the things that I did this past year? No. So that's why I, when it came, then I had to ask myself another question.

So mine is like, hey, I can juggle it. Here's another question. So mine is like, Hey, I can juggle it. Here's another question. Would I like to continue having negative people around me? I can make lemonade with lemons all day long, but when it comes to, I mean, my acting coaches are very, very much on this for me. They're like, you're not going to go to your full potential. If you keep having those, you know, sour lemons around you, let's just, you know, we don't to your full potential if you keep having those you know sour lemons around you let's just you know we don't need that even if we have time for that like don't give your energy so I just I just made it more serious more concrete I really just was like you know what it's

been great and I'm always going to keep things positive but I can't control the negatives and I don't really want the negative things hanging around me. And that's really, I look now this year, 2018, even though I was keeping some of that around, was that affecting my success? Like would I have been doing 20 more things than I did last year? So now this year, I'm literally getting that freedom and it's been great. Yeah. Well, that was one of the questions. Now you're no longer working with MTV and on that show. Do you feel a sense of relief and you're glad that that's the end of that chapter? You can move on and do other things? I do feel a sense of relief. Again, with those sour lemons, it's just like, you can't have them around.

I think it was a beautiful blessing in disguise. It really showed me, and I'm always thankful to MTV Viacom, thankful to them because it showed me how to deal with legal situations. It taught me that I can publish my own book and put it out and do my own book tours and make the New York top sellers list. And then it taught me so many other things. Like I can know legally what is right, what is wrong, and I can go above a large company that thinks they could do whatever. So there's eye-opening experiences to it all. And we were just the MTV Movie Awards like last week. So it was good. It was good to be back, Viacom and who knows maybe they'll be releasing my first feature film of my biography my and with the book that's done so well and you never know and now it's on audiobook so we've been having so much fun with that that was such a pleasure to make I underestimated that process it was truly it was killer it was

emotional it was a roller coaster that's why that book's a classic. But yeah, so I love and I enjoy every, I would say experience, fail, win, whatever it is, because I really needed that to be the best business person I can be. Yeah, and you said something really insightful that you do need to really take a look at what you're doing in your look at what you're doing in your

business, what you're doing in your life. And if something feels like it's a detractor, you need to really be like, you can be as strong as you want, but if you feel like things are just detracting, it will detract your business and it will affect you negatively. And I think anyone can kind of relate to that in whatever situation, whether they're working a nine to five and they're like, I hate going to work every day. You need to look at like, then why are you still there? Yes, and I also, I have a big role

for everyone who I employ. And I think this keeps your company culture as pleasant, as easy as it can be and positive. I do have a contract upon hiring. We are not allowed to be watching my Instagrams, my this, my that. Knowing where the owner is is not our responsibility. It's about solely like the social media of the store, the positivity, giving back to our customers, focusing on cleanliness and those things. Again, I don't like scheduling people or more than two people at a time at my stores. Luckily, I can get away with that because of the inter-conflicts while people

are working together. And I just hold people responsible, being mindful. And if you have free time and if you've done everything at the stores, that's your responsibility, then I have no problem with them even, you know, I encourage entrepreneurship. Like if they have business questions to start their own companies, I've helped five of my employees that have left start their own companies. So I also take it upon myself. If you have college, bring your laptop in. If you have other things, keep yourself busy. That's what I used to do working on all of the other companies and other bosses who I were under when I was, you know, 14, 15. And I started my own lemonade stand and was in a, uh, like the newspaper in my area. Then I started my own little companies of the neighborhood and I took over. encouraging others to have these good skills and mind focus so it's not dwindling down the drain

and just keep positive and going up. Brick and mortar can get stagnant. You're there every day and hopefully at my store because it's so fun, great, everything's new, different things each day and week. It doesn't get stagnant. But that's just one thing that we deal with in brick and mortar. Yeah, absolutely. I'm really curious because it sounds like you kind of answered my big question. It's like you, when I was watching the T-Mom show, I was always really drawn to you because you seem like the only one that was really taking an advantage of the spotlight to grow your own businesses, which is, I think, more... It's kind of sad when I see reality stars are on the show and then the show ends and then you're like, oh, what happened to them?

And then there's the other ones that are like, oh, they developed something. They're doing something awesome. Why? I mean, obviously, I see why you already had this entrepreneurial spirit. You always had this drive. So I'm assuming you kind of decided when this opportunity to join the show, you're like, oh, this might be an opportunity that I can use to help, you know, down the road, grow my career? No, I never thought that. Oh, no. So, you know, I was really living in the moment at the time. That's why I said, I have to say why even have

my first New Yorker. I was coming from, you know, that's why I talked about Iowa, Omaha, who I was dating, my family. I am such a different person from then to now. And when we're saying back then when I sent in a casting tape, and I said the reason why I would like to be a part of the show is I would like to show others, regardless if they have kids or not, that they can still be a success. And it doesn't infringe upon any, anything of what they're doing. They can do everything. It's normal. And indeed, I did everything that's normal, but I also went above and beyond that. And my life gave me some unimaginable experiences, unfathomable traveling, all of this stuff. And with the good and with the bad, everything to me is pretty much good.

It was the bad with the press drama and other executives and people swindling me out to be some horrible this, that, or the other thing that I'm not. But I just applied just to say, hey, like, I want to show girls that they can basically graduate high school. I mean, that's really what I thought about only at the time. Yeah. And I did that with a grain of salt. It was the easiest thing. And I went right into college. So I think me, and then, you know, I went through depression because I lost my daughter's father. So there's bereavement, there's depression. That just took my brain to a whole other thing. But through that, it made me focus on myself. And every time I was kicked down, I literally felt like

when you go to such a deep, dark place of other people beating you down, kicking you down and keeping you in a not mentally stable place, not supporting a healthy mental stable place, which the production that people who I were around were not. I mean, it's better to have someone depressed or on substances or something to help keep them in this space, which is only where it's relative for TV. And I grew out of it, but I was all, and I'm still very much about spirituality, my faith of God. And that's, I'm sorry, that's just, I don't like to say this is what everybody should do. But it's just, that just happened to work for me. And I swear by that, there's nothing else I can say or do.

That was just my life. And yeah, I'm just always thankful to recognize that. And I think that's the most beautiful thing about growth in your mind in different times in your life. From opening brick and mortar, then you go to online. I'm killing the online. Then you do international. You're doing Christ.

You're doing all these things. And honestly, everybody's always asking me, don't you think you can like retire or stop or just enjoy and I enjoy everything I'm so present with everything that I have but I'm always very much about um what's my next here because I really need something next I'm getting a little bored with it all yeah well that sounds like an entrepreneur. Yeah. My biggest thing that I stressed about and worried about when I knew that I was going to have a daughter was she's going to ask me questions. And am I going to be that parent that doesn't know the answers to these questions, whatever she thinks of?

Yeah. And now I can gladly say I'm the parent who can answer pretty much every question on this universe and easily done. And I can show her how to do things. I can guide her and I can give her the best life she can live. And to me, I mean, there was guilt along the way. There was like, am I making this right? Am I acting my age? Am I doing this? And now it's just a beautiful place where we are just so sound. And so to all the women, to all the men and all the single parents out there who really are striving to say, what do I want for my career? Do I want to open businesses? Am I doing the right thing as a parent? It is, everybody goes through that journey and it's not, it's not an easy one and it's just really a fun one to enjoy. And every day has a new challenge.

Yeah. And I feel like it's hard enough to become an entrepreneur and a successful one at that, but to be a single mom and one who is so young, that's like another level. I'm really curious how you balance that. And also, I'm assuming, too, you've built a good team around you because you can't do everything yourself. So how did you do that? How did you know how to do that? Oh, wow. Okay. So the first question was, because the second one is like, oh, it's a shocker when I answer it. So the first one is about balance. How do you balance being a career woman and also a mom? Okay. I get this a lot. I simply don't have any expectations for my day. I literally make it

as simplified and as easy as I can or whatever pops up, I handle as it comes. And that's the easiest way I can handle all my successful businesses, me being a successful parent, and just keeping it fluid and going. And I think we get so wound up in, oh, my hair, my makeup, I got to adjust, right? I look great. You know what? I went through that phase and I was just like, okay, so if I get rhinoplasty, if I get my boobs, okay, then I don't need to look at myself. I don't need to think about my face. I don't need to do this. And I think, yes, if you're held back by anything mental or aesthetically about yourself, that's going to hold you back on your success. Like you got to get out of the bathroom. You got

to get out of your house as soon as possible. I literally like, and the last one to bed and then the first one awake every day, I have a full day. I'm so fulfilled in that. So less about you and more about everything and what's going on in your future plan. Yes. And I'm sure like a big driving factor too is even though you want to be successful, it seems like you're building this legacy for your daughter. Yeah. I mean, I'm streamlining. Streamlining any path you want. What is your ultimate kind of long-term career goal if you have one?

Like what do you see as this is kind of something I would love to achieve in my lifetime? So my next project and I would love to achieve in my lifetime is having a film that I screenplay, I screenwrite, I direct, I produce to be the top in the box office. And that's what I'm doing with my biography, my true story. And I really, I mean, I feel like my life's journey has been exceptional. It's definitely not everyone. And there's so much inspiration and fun times and just good things to learn from like doing this podcast it's something to learn from the book something like so the film is in that next level and I feel like with all the films and how they're all like just blips of our memories I feel like this would be again like my audiobook is just like, like this is a classic. I can't wait to have my movie out. Like my books, like my best friend, when I read other psychotherapists,

relationship, marriage, like all those types of things of those books, my teenage biography hits on all of those points for older adults. And I literally laughed about this the other day when I finished reading another book. And I was like, all right, so I know that this will be appealing to all ages when I come out with the film. So I'm doing a lot of research and making sure that it is amazing for everyone. And it does very well in the box office. Yeah. Another question I have, and this is, I probably should have asked it earlier, but you kind of mentioned, you know, you have had a lot of, been faced with a lot of challenges. Um, that's like putting it lightly. Um, how do you, and especially, you know, it's gotta be hard.

You're in the public eye. Um, I think it's also hard when you're in the public eye, your reality start and you're a woman, how like, it's obvious you have dealt with a lot of challenges. How do you deal with them? Like, I think a lot of a normal person would like, would's obvious you have dealt with a lot of challenges. How do you deal with them? Like, I think a lot of a normal person, like, would not be able to deal with all the flack and negativity that's out there. But you keep just, you know, pushing forward. How do you do that? Yes. And I just, how do I do that? You know, I always ask myself, how do I do this? What itself? And again, I have to go back to God God like I literally I have

my affirmations I repeat every day um I pray every day I I have to go to church on Sundays it's just my thing because I need to recharge um I literally walked off a plane and had a gate agent attack me call a police on me and say that my child wasn't my child who I walked off the plane with. So there's a lot of crazy upside down. I've seen the worst and the worst of people on this planet. And I, and I just say this, I'm a fighter. Number one, I'm above all blame, which is all BS, literally, because half of everything, like even when I was just all over the news the other day claiming that I was arrested for battery and trespassing. I'm like, what? I'm like, wow.

I'm like shocked. And then I wasn't arrested. No mugshot, no nothing. And I had people testing me. And, you know, there's there's no celebrity face and there's really no case. And that wouldn't happen. And when people are, you know, brought out and put out in public saying you targeted somebody who's well known, they want to act like they didn't do that. So how do I get through some outlandish, unexpected, crazy things and then have the people thinking the worst of me? I just stay true to who God made me. Like from, that's all I know. I've known that since I've been little and I've known that since today. And all I can say is I have no show to put on in my real life. My real life is way better than my reality TV, like,

personal life, whatever they edit. And I really hope to just use that for the greater good, which I have, which shows. And that's just so amazing. So I don't know. You know, I've gone to therapy for years. They're just like, hey, you don't need to keep wasting your time. You can recognize your family, your blood, if they're bad, if they're good, you can,

because nothing, nothing has been easy for me and my family growing up or in my public eye of, and you know, friends and people who I hired. And I have to just say, trust no one. At the end of the day, I trust no one. I have amazing staff. I have amazing people around me. It's because I'm choosing and I'm making sure that these people are stable people. I just, you know, I wouldn't want anything else in my stores or for my customers or for my family. And I think we just have to monitor every day or every week. You know, is this person good? Am I recognizing? Am I still on my toes? We always need reminders. And that's why I love my books and I love everything I do. And I think one thing too, that a lot of people can

relate to is, I mean, everyone has shit in their life. Like everyone has, and you, yeah, you haven't had an easy ride of it compared to a lot of people, but you can, you know, do one of two things. You can either just succumb to all of this and just throw your hands up and be like, fine. Or you can fight it and be like, no, that's not who I am. That's not an accurate representation. I know who I am. I trust myself. And having that solid foundation of I know who I am.

I know what my values are. And then just living that. And that's really just what every human should do. It's easier said than done. But it's like the only way to really survive hardship. Right. Yes. And we've seen a lot of people over the years, you know, um, unjustly, you know, with their careers being ruined by negativity. And so that's what I am definitely striving to overcome even this week. It's just, I am not allowing anything to stain on my career. So

you know what? It's like, I'm not paying attention to that because that's really not valid. I think we just need to say, is that valid? No. Okay. Well, then I got to go. And you just keep on. So that's, that's the power in you and don't ever lose your place of power. So before I let you go, there's a couple of questions that I don't know if anyone's asked you on air, but I would love to know. So first, you're very driven. What do you have a favorite will teach you how to overcome, how to succeed, and in a very relatable way. And I will be writing my first business book after this year. So wish me luck on that. I'm in the middle of it.

And I hope it's going to really be intriguing for all entrepreneurs, all business types anywhere in their career, whether they're just retiring or just starting. It's going to really kick it off in a great way. Well, Farrah, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. It was a pleasure. You're lovely. Thank you. I'm excited for your future business book. I can't wait, too. We'll have to have another chat.

And that was Episode 166 with Farrah Abraham. Make sure to check out the show notes, jessicamorales.com slash 166 for more info about stuff that we talked about that you will want to check out the show notes, jessicamorehouse.com slash 166 for more info about stuff that we talked about that you will want to check out. Also, I just Googled Farrah Abraham's net worth. Who knows if this is accurate. This is just a Google search. But it does say that potentially, so it says the internet that she reached a net worth of $5 million at the age of 26 and she was only 27. So that may be true, may not be true, but just kind of goes to show that she honestly is probably one of the, you know, few people from that kind of franchise,

that show that's done something with the attention and kind of opportunities that came her way. So I don't know. Anywho, I hope you enjoyed that episode. I've got a ton of more amazing episodes coming up this season. I'm super excited. I'm so excited that I can hardly speak. But I have also a few announcements, some important things that I want to share with you because I haven't talked to you in a little while. So just stick around for two seconds. Just a few words about this episode's sponsor. This episode of the Momany Podcast is supported by Vanguard Investments Canada. Want to start investing but also want to avoid paying crazy high fees? Or maybe you're already investing but hate that the fees you're paying are eating up a huge chunk of your returns? Then you may want to consider Vanguard's low-fee ETFs or actively managed mutual funds instead. Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management companies and is owned by its U.S. domiciled funds and ETFs, and those funds in turn are owned by their investors.

That means that Vanguard investors don't have to worry about the company being acquired one day and can rest assured that Vanguard's only priority is offering low-fee funds so their investors can build their wealth even sooner. To learn more about Vanguard Investments Canada, check out my blog post all about them at jessicamorehouse.com can build their wealth even sooner. To learn more about Vanguard Investments Canada, check out my blog post all about them at jessicamorehouse.com slash Vanguard. Or head on over to VanguardCanada.ca for info on their funds, how to start investing, and how you could save thousands of dollars on fees by choosing low-fee funds for your investment portfolio. Once again, that's VanguardCanada.ca. All right. So announcements. First and foremost, I got one real quick that's actually coming up very quickly.

It's coming out this weekend. If you live in Toronto, I am doing a free workshop in partnership with the Toronto Public Library all about how to become a side hustler because side hustles are awesome. I know how to become a side hustler. It helped me make some extra money on the side while I was working full time and eventually helped me lead to where I am now where I switched careers and I'm working for myself. So I kind of discuss all those fun things in this workshop. More details, you can find out at jessicamorez.com slash community. It's where I put a lot of information about what I'm up to and events and workshops and stuff like that. So you may want to check it out. It's free. Why not? Next, also, I've kind of been teasing in my

email newsletter. If you're not part of it, make sure to join it, jessicamorales.com slash subscribe. But I'm currently in the process of making my first own online course. So unfortunately, Rich and Fit, which I have talked about a little bit throughout the podcast in the past couple years, is no longer. Me and my pal Jacqueline Phillips decided to say goodbye to Rich and Fit and our online courses about fitness and finance. And because of that, now I have a lot more time and energy to dedicate to make my own courses. So the first course I really wanted to tackle was one about investing, specifically passive investing, just because I think,

well, honestly, I was trying to find a course myself and there didn't really seem to be too much in the market. And also I've been busy all summer doing financial counseling one-on-one with clients and doing a lot of discovery calls. And it seems like people want this. People would like a course to show them how to invest properly, how to understand kind of the basics, but then also take action. Because my goal and my big motivation for this is I, several years ago, basically starting this podcast, I had no idea anything about investing. I knew a little bit, but not as much as I know now. And it really kind of, I don't know, just like made me realize that if I felt like that, most people feel like that. And if I can learn, you know, go from like having no idea what an index fund is or even a mutual

fund for that matter, and then come to a place where it's, I know way too much about both, then anyone can really go from zero to passive investing pro or whatever. So working on that, I will have more details about that soon. But just let you know, just keep your eye out for that. Those are kind of the two main things. Oh, no, one last thing. So as I kind of just mentioned right there, I have been busy throughout the summer working with clients one on one, a lot of whom have listened to the podcast. That's how they found me to help them with their finances. I am an accredited financial counselor. And it makes me so, so happy. And it honestly, it's one of my favorite things to do now is helping people one-on-one with their particular finances.

So I'm always kind of open for business. So if you are interested in learning a bit more, I am accepting a few more spots. I do kind of have a capacity because I'm only one person and I'm busy with a bunch of other elements of my business, but I'm always kind of open for a few more spots. So if this is something that you would like to learn more about, if you're interested, or you just want to have a call with me and see if this is right for you, make sure to go to jessicamorehouse.com slash discovery call, book a call with me, we'll have a chat and we'll see if it makes sense to work together or if I have a spot for you. If not, then you know, once I'm kind of all booked up, which maybe soon I'll just like put up a waiting list and then contact you later.

But anyways, jessamorehouse.com slash discovery.com. Okay, that's enough salesy business for me. Sorry, but I have to. I just want to say I'm so stoked to be back. I'm so excited to share so many great episodes I've got in the queue. I know you're going to love it. So if you're listening for the first time, make sure to subscribe. If you haven't already, leave me an iTunes review. I will continue to do my shout outs on future episodes. So give you a little shout out

on, you know, at the end of my episode and say thank you. Read your review out loud. And just thanks. I just want to say thanks. You're awesome. You rock. Appreciate you. Appreciate you listening. And I'm going to catch you back here next Wednesday with a fresh new episode of the Mo Money Podcast. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.