Right About Now - Legendary Business Advice - First Class Women in Business

Episode Date: February 14, 2023

Welcome to The Radcast! Ready to level up like some of today's most influential entrepreneurs and businesswomen? Ryan Alford has you covered! Tune in for this inspiring episode featuring Tracy Duhs, Heidi Montag, Cristina Ferrare, Heidi Cortez and Raquel Pennington—all leaders who have achieved success across various industries.Get ready to learn from the best on how these ladies maintain a work-life balance that helps them reach their goals — don't miss out on this incredible episode. Let's get motivated together—this is a must-hear show!Key notes from the episode: First part: Heidi Cortez, a bestselling author and branding expert, shares how she started her own business at the age of 12 and what motivated her to continue growing her career (02:08) Tracy Duhs, an author and modern wellness advocate, shares how she made her dreams come true through connecting with people and to God. (04:06) Raquel Pennington, an American Mixed Martial Artist, shares how her being sporty as a kid brought her to being a professional athlete (05:21) Cristina Ferrare, the NY Times bestselling author author, TV host, and entrepreneur, shares how she started her modeling career at the age of 15 and grew her career from there (06:14) Heidi Montag, a singer, reality TV personality, and entrepreneur, shares how she started her career with the help of Lauren Conrad and how she met Spencer Pratt (07:10) Second part: Heidi Cortez shares her biggest struggle being a teenage single mom and how she was able to manage making things happen despite people's doubts (08:33) Cristina believes that it is important to be independent in order to have freedom and what beauty truly is (09:31) Raquel believes that true beauty comes from a combination of physical and mental effort (10:51) Heidi Montag and Spencer faces difficult challenges involving finances (12:29) Third part: Heidi Cortez shares how she chose an unconventional path in life that was supported by both herself and her conservative family (13:49) Tracy wanted to have a lifestyle similar to those in Hollywood, but also help people (14:53) Fourth part:They share where they get their inspiration from (16:51-20:28) Fifth part:They share their biggest learning lessons and how did they get so successful today (20:30-26:11) This episode is packed with energy, knowledge, and passion and we know you will get a ton of value from this.To keep up with Tracy Duhs, follow him on Instagram @tracyduhs or website https://tracyduhs.com/To keep up with Heidi Montag, follow him on Instagram @heidimontag or her music https://music.apple.com/us/artist/heidi-montag/271636652To keep up with Cristina Ferrare, follow him on Instagram @cristinacooksTo keep up with Heidi Cortez, follow him on Instagram @heidicortez or her website https://www.heidicortez.com/getverifiedbookTo keep up with Raquel Pennington, follow him on Instagram @raquel_pennington or her website https://fanarch.com/collections/raquel-penningtonLearn more by visiting our website at www.theradcast.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/RadicalHomeofTheRadcastIf you enjoyed this episode of The Radcast, Like, Share, and leave us a review! If you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, join Ryan’s newsletter https://ryanalford.com/newsletter/ to get Ferrari level advice daily for FREE.  Learn how to build a 7 figure business from your personal brand by signing up for a FREE introduction to personal branding https://ryanalford.com/personalbranding.  Learn more by visiting our website at www.ryanisright.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel  www.youtube.com/@RightAboutNowwithRyanAlford. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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All figures are per serving of Hero Bread. Contains 2 to 18 grams of fat per serving. See the product nutrition panels on Hero.com for more information. You're listening to the Rodcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, Ryan Offer here, host of the Radcast. I am pumped for this episode, and you should be too.

We've had some of the coolest, baddest, most amazing women on the Radcast, the last couple years. And we wanted to aggregate it all for you. Some of the best of our baddest women in business, sports, and everything else. These women are spectacular. They're kicking ass and taking names. and you need to take their names. We got Christina Ferrari. We've got Tracy Dews, reality TV star Heidi Montag.

We've got the number two UFC fighter in the world in the women's division, Raquel Pennington. And of course, the lovely Heidi Cortez. I'm going to let them introduce themselves. So much good knowledge, so much good insight for any entrepreneur at any level or any business person or anyone just wanting to know good habits for how to get ahead. So much great content.

all brought together in one of the best of Radcast editions. I know you're going to love it. I loved it. You know where to find us, the radcast.com. Enjoy. We're talking water today. Talking H-2O. We're talking the Queen of Elixirs.

Talking Tracy Doos. What's up, Tracy? What's up, Ryan? We're talking black and blue in the face. Raquel Pennington. Welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. A charming woman that I was excited to talk to.

And she might not have no why, but we're going to get into that. But Christina Ferrari, great to have you on the show. Thank you. I'm so excited to be on the show. I don't want to call this Part 2 with Ms. Heidi Montag. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for an interesting journey today with Heidi Cortez.

What's up, Heidi? Hey, what's up? Thanks for having me, Ryan. Hey, my pleasure. Let's start from the beginning. I know our 40-minute podcast, we could just talk about your accolades and everything you've done. But let's let's at least set the stage for everybody. I guess your condensed life story. I don't want to, I don't want to shortchange it, but

you know, I do want to build towards today and talk more about your recent books, which was where I saw some connection points. But let's at least tell everybody more about you if they haven't already heard. There's probably a lot of our listeners that have heard of you, a lot of executives that we work with. But I'd love to talk a little bit about your story. Well, I've always been entrepreneur since I was a child. I started doing businesses at 12. By 13, I was lying about my age to get jobs because when you're 13, you can't really, you can't get a work license or business license. And when I was 13, I used my sister's birth certificate and social security card to get a job and pretend that I was her. And I got a job at Ross, Ross dress for less. Her name's Courtney.

So I had a name type that said, Courtney. I was working in the registrar. during the holiday season for like $4.75 an hour. And I was so happy to have that job because we were really poor growing up. I was very underprivileged. Grew up with a single mom, older sister, younger brother. And we were loved a lot, but we didn't have any money. We, you know, grew up on, like, eating beans all the time and lentils. And if we wanted to, you know, have nicer things in life or clothes or things like that. My mom really encouraged us to get a job. So my mom knew what I was doing about using my sister's birth certificate and social

security card and getting a job at Ross. And I held down the job for several months until my sister got mad at me and called them and told them that I was her little sister who stole her wallet. But she was such a business person and entrepreneur too that she was charging me every week to use her name. I would say if I had to say how I got the most successful, it'd probably be through ignorance as bliss, you know? It's not really taking no for an answer.

When I was a little girl, my dad would tell me, just dream. Anything's possible. So as I was growing up, I just thought, you know, if you just like work really hard, you can have whatever you want. So I just kept driving and pushing. And it worked, definitely worked. It became, I got all the things I wanted. became what I wanted to be, but it's interesting because I don't think, like, what one person's

definition of successes isn't someone else's. So my definition of success has changed since the beginning of my life. When I was younger, I thought success would be if I had the money, the house, the cars, the lifestyle, the trips. But now my idea of success is how connected are my relationships. How connected am I am to myself, to divine, to God? How healthy am I, am I enjoying life? Am I waking up in the morning with peace, with joy, with excitement? That's my higher definition of success now. Yeah, you know, I mean, I've always been an athlete. I've been doing sports since I was five and kind of just, I never thought in a million years I'd grow up to be a professional fighter, but I guess that's what I'm destined to do. And, you know, I started in the sport in 2010. And then in 2012,

I believe it was, I made my pro debut. And, you know, this sport has been a journey. It's been a ride. It's fun. You get your highs to highs and your lowest the lows. But overall, I mean, for me, I've had the opportunity to where life is just, like, really set me up to where, I mean, I just straight focus on fighting. And, you know, my life consists of waking up and go to the gym and having some lunch and focusing on nutrition and going back to the gym, getting some naps in and repeating five days a week. And then on the weekends, I just try to enjoy myself. So it's definitely a journey. In Cleveland, Ohio, I was born there. I'm a good Midwestern girl. It was brought up there. So I had all the, you know, values of home and family. And my parents were

immigrants from Italy. Actually, my father was stationed in the war in Italy. We moved to Cleveland. and by the time I was 14, my parents moved to Los Angeles. And then, long story short, I came home from school one day. My mother was having lunch with a new friend she made, and she said, your daughter is pretty. Have you ever thought of maybe perhaps modeling? So I ended up at the Nina Blanchard agency in Los Angeles, which is the equivalent to the Ford agency in New York.

And I was 14 years old, and by the time I was 15, Max Factor put me under contract to that. And I was their spokesperson for over 20 years, which is a very long lifespan in a model's life. But it ain't forever, isn't it? Well, I was actually living abroad in Italy at my junior year of high school. And I didn't want to go back to high school. So instead of having a senior year of high school, I ended up having a freshman year of college. And I ended up being Lauren Conrad there.

And she was like, oh, I'm on the show called the Gunna Beach. And I was like, that is so cool. great because there was rumored that this girl was on MTV that was there, but it hadn't aired, so none of us knew. And her and I had become best friends. And then she told me about that. And then I lived with her over the summer. And then she said, hey, I'm going to have my own for like a month in the summer. She said, I'm going to have my own show. I really want you to be on it. I want to move to L.A. with you. The producers actually didn't want me on. They're like, no, we want Lauren moving to L.A. by yourself. And we need this whole struggle with her in the city.

He's like, no, I'm not living alone and I'm not going to live with a stranger and I want my best friend there. So her and I filmed season one. I met Spencer in between season one and season two and I fell in love with him. He fell in love with me too, but he was a little scared. So whatever. What's been like a struggle? I mean, you know, entrepreneur to entrepreneur. Like what's been your biggest struggle running businesses and, you know, like wherever you feel like you've grown the most?

I'm kind of kind of a two part, two part message there. Okay. So first of all, my biggest struggle in life ever was being a teenage mom. My son is now a 22 Army veteran and everybody thought I wasn't going to make it. They're like, how are you going to do this? But I was a 20 or I was an 18 year old single mom and I pulled it off. I can't believe it. I moved down to L.A. with my son, just he and I.

And we didn't know anybody. and I pulled it off. I can't believe I made it happen, but that was by far the biggest struggle. I've never been married, so I've never been divorced, and I've just done everything on my own. And I think when people find that out, and they're like, well, you know,

maybe she had help or financial backing, and that wasn't my case. And so when they find out that I was also a young single mom, it makes it more relatable, and people can understand that that is a huge struggle to go through by yourself. So that, to answer your question, is my biggest struggle, was my biggest struggle. Well, the thing is, is a lot of people are paralyzed when bad things happen to them and they don't know what to do. I was never that kind of a person because I realized that I needed to move

forward. And I also realized, too, for me, I needed to be independent. I needed to make my own money. I needed to have my own freedom and that gave me freedom. But the joy that I received from that I had having children and having my husband and the support of, you know, my family. That just kept me going forward. I look at myself now at 71 years old and, you know, it's hard. I look at myself in the mirror and, you know, it's, you know, I got makeup on. You take all this off. This isn't so perfect. you know, but it's okay. I'm okay with who I am as a person. And I believe that even though I am aging and I don't have that power anymore, my daughters have it now. And it gives me great delight

to sit back and watch them do that, you know. But they're like I am. They don't think of themselves that way. They're very much into the same things I was about family and cooking and Oh, that's true beauty. For me personally, like, obviously my job just isn't only just being in the gym and getting into the best shape possible and working on my technique and skill. For me, I mean, I have genetics and I come from a Hispanic family to where my job starts in the kitchen too. So, you know, I'm constantly working there.

And then there's just some days that, honestly, training gets so tough that my body, I mean, being 33, being an athlete since I was five, I've had crazy injuries. and then the injuries you sustain throughout fighting and throughout this career. I mean, living in Colorado, I feel the aches and pains when that winter hits, you know? And so it's like there's some days that I don't even want to move. And it comes down to, you know, sometimes maybe twice a week I have to go to physical therapy and I'm getting dry needling. I'm getting massages.

I have a massage every week. I live in the chiropractor's office three days a week. And I'm constantly doing something like that. Some days it consists of, you know, just go sitting in a steamroom or a sauna and it's not to cut weight or lose weight, but just to like relax the body. And other times, they'll be at home and taking a hot bath. And then some days it's just, it's nonstop grinds. Like, you have to listen to your body. So I take Saturday and Sunday off.

But even with that, I'm super active. So I'm constantly doing something. And this sport, like I said, it gives you the highest, the highs and the lowest of lows. And it's tough when you're on a platform. It's tough when you're in the spotlight. and when you're in the media and you have all these expectations to live up to. So not only do you have to work on your body physically, but you have to work on yourself mentally.

And so I do sports psychology in there. And it's just, it's nonstop. Yeah, absolutely. It was definitely us versus the world. And at a point, you know, we weren't talking to my family because we felt like they were going against us and not being supportive and his family. And so there have been so many times where it literally was just Spencer and I and it drove us closer together.

And for a lot of people would have completely tore them apart. but being against all these producers and conglomerates and it just made us such a tight, you know, unit. And so I think the hardest challenge for us has actually been running Pratt Daddy. Yeah. I think that's been the hardest thing for us because it's such a constant. So when it's TV and when it's your own personalities, there's just not as much that you have to deal with with all these details and like continually being hit over the head with payroll and how much do we spend on this and how much do we spend it on that? And it's hard because at first it was Spencer's company, basically, that he was doing. And I had a newborn.

I'm like, great, whatever. I'll just promo it. And now it's become both of us. And I always have to be the bad cop with finances. And this is like, I don't want to be that. I don't want to have to get into that. So I think our hardest challenge has been this company. What makes, where does this entrepreneurial drive come from?

Like, you know, I know you talked about the early age and doing it. But like, you feel like it's like innate. I mean, it sounds like you're born that way on some. level, but maybe the, I don't know, what does that, what generates that? I think a lot of it has to do with, um, you know, my mom's support of like, like allowing me to get jobs early and no matter what I told my mom I wanted to do when I was a kid, she was like, Heidi, that's a great idea. Heidi, you should do that. And, um, she never said no. She never said, you can't do this. And we, like I said, we were so, like, we were so broke and I was so underprivileged

that I would dream about how I can be successful or how could I provide for my family someday. So I think that for me is where my drive comes from, but I couldn't think of it any other way. This is definitely my passion and to be relatable to other people that maybe have upbringings like me. I grew up in a very conservative family and, you know, I chose a different route. I was not a traditional, you know, by the books person and I didn't want to go to college. And my family was very supportive the whole way through. So I just wanted to be like that. So I thought the way that I could be like that, I'm talking about when I was really little,

like five, six, I thought I had to be in Hollywood to have that kind of lifestyle. So I always thought one day I want to go to Hollywood and do that. But also I want to help people. So how do I do both? So I thought, well, I'm going to be an actress, but I'm also going to be a doctor too. So when I was blessed with the opportunity of getting through high school in one year and started college at 15.5. and I wouldn't say that I was the most, like, genius kid or anything like that. I was just very driven.

And my first semester of college, I think I started with 21 science units. I remember walking into the dean's office at 15 and saying, I want to do this. I want to become a doctor someday. I want to help people. and I don't want to waste any time. Will you sign this so that I can take all these units? And he's like, sure. And I did well.

I got on the Dean's list that year, and I just pushed through. And that next summer, since my dad was a missionary, I got to go to an indigenous village in Guatemala and shadow a surgeon, just witnessed so many things, surgery, vaccinations. you name it. And it was really fun and it was the most eye-opening experience. One of the things that I took home with me that I never forgot was how precious water is. Exactly.

Where does, where do you gain? Who are your influences now? Like, you know, like where do you go for inspiration? And I don't know, what keeps Heidi happy? You know, I don't know. This might sound so cheesy. my mom. She is like the sweetest, like, I mean, she's like the sweetest angel that ever lived. My mother is my inspiration. And I just think about how she was so loving and so supporting. And, you know,

I thought everybody's parents were like that. And when I got older and I realized that everybody else wasn't. So my mom, you know, she's my inspiration. I live from my mother. I live from my son. and, you know, those are people that I love and I aspire to be like. I used to think about the opportunity. One thing that my father instilled in me was like anything you want to do or become, you can. And your greatest struggle is going to be figuring out what you want that to be. Because once you decide it, it'll be, but you just need to figure it out. I want to help people, but I don't want to cut people open and give them shots.

that didn't resonate with my personal journey. So I thought, hmm, okay, I want to help people, but how else can I help them? And the second thing was how precious water was and to be grateful for it. And that someday I want to go back and help these people. You know, I was in school before my fight career really kicked off. I was going to school to be a doctor. And so, like, I have a lot of schooling underneath me. and I love learning.

So, I mean, I don't care what age I am. Like, I'll go back to school and do different things. And I have a lot of, like, credentials under me when it comes to, like, physical training and all this other stuff. I love coaching. I love just being around the athletic world. I'm really into, like, physical therapy and recovery and all different things. And, you know, I want to open a gym. I was getting ready to open a gym and then COVID hit.

So there's different things there. I have a lot of investments and stuff for myself. and whatnot. Like, I'm always thinking about with, like, the future and everything. I love living in the present, but at the same time, like, I do things after every fight or just in my daily life to set up my future. And so, you know, I mean, I want a family. I want kids. I want to be a run around my little rugrats and hang out, travel the world. So there's a lot there. Like, you know, people wake up and they honestly, like, they have true struggles in life. And, like, it really sucks and we all go through things and everything but like my issue is I wake up and I'm like

overwhelmed because I have like too many goals and too much ambition and it's like frustrating to like sort through and calm myself down with so those are things that I'm like working on. There's a lot in the works and I feel like whatever I put my mind to you it'll definitely happen. What advice do you give to people that want to get into the sport like you know, It's probably universal. It doesn't matter if it's a woman or a man, but on some level. I mean, I know there's some nuances, I'm sure. But how do you counsel people?

I'm sure you get a lot of questions about that. Yeah, everybody always asked and, you know, like, you're not going to have an answer for yourself until you try it. It's all you can do. So go out there and try and put your best foot forward and have fun. And, you know, I tell them it's going to be highest to highs and lowest to lows, even in training. You're going to have people of all different skill levels. And, you know, at the end of the day, remain humble and have fun. Have fun with whatever you're doing.

But, I mean, you're going to get in shape and remember why you're there. Like, don't set these, like, outrageous goals and expectations for yourself. Like, just embrace the journey and have fun with it every single day and let yourself grow. What's been your biggest learning lesson to date from running Pratt Daddy? Oh, my gosh. Is it just that overall complexity? Yeah, it's so hard. And it's just a balance of spending as well.

So we just deal with that every month because the more critical. crystals you buy the more money that you make, but then you can't be spending all of your money into inventory. Payroll being more efficient. I'm the one who always has to have fire and hire, basically. So that has never been a fun job. I get all the really fun jobs, you know, like I'm the bad guy. So good cop, bad cop. But I think also knowing your roles and I think that's been the biggest learning curve with Spencer and I'm like, sometimes I'm just going to let him be like, great and let him figure something else out and, you know, pick my battles with certain things. So I think just between us and kind of getting that going has been hard.

Also, we've just done so much trial and error with a photographer and product placement. So trying to eliminate that. And, I mean, gosh, it's just been so much. Tracy, how did you get so damn successful? I think really being successful is being able to just kind of. connect with people and have fun with people and create community and show up and have a vision. And those kind of things, if you just keep showing up every day and you're faithful and you're fun and your kind and you're honest, you're going to go somewhere.

So and just do the things that light you up. They get you excited. We've all been given gifts that are unique to us and it's not an accident. So the things that make you smile or light you up, chances are you're really good at that. You know, as you go through life and I look at my life as a book and chapters in a book. And each part is a learning part. And there are good things that happen to you along the way. I'm pretty, can I say shitty things?

Oh, yes, please. This is the radcast. Okay, okay. All right. I'm going to go from life for me. I'm always trying to edit myself. Oh, please don't. No editing on the radcast.

Yes. And then, you know, you have to pick yourself up and move on because life is a series of events and, you know, good stuff, bad stuff. And, you know, that's how I conducted my life. I know. It's been obvious. Like, I see that from what I've read and from afar. And it's what I'm hired about you. It seems like you're a damn fighter.

Like, where does that come from? I've heard that you've told three or four different stories. But out of every single one of them, it's a theme. coming through. And I always ask people like, you know, because not everyone is that way. You know, especially in today's society, so it's like everyone kind of goes the other way. Where did that come from? Oh, I'm Italian, number one.

Okay. All right. It starts there. You know what? I don't know where that really comes from. It's just, I know that it's always served me well. But my girls call this side of me, Rustina Panari. That's their like evil twin.

It's like whenever somebody, you know, backs me up or if I have to do something, they'll go, Mom, you know, Restina Panari came out today and I had to assert myself in order to get what it was that I needed. And they said, you know, it works. They used to get frightened every time they saw Restina come out and they would leave. But I think it's just a survival mode that I've always had because I enjoy, I enjoy, I enjoy, everything I do. And like if you'd ask me like now, if you could go back and change one thing, would you change it? And I would say no, absolutely. I don't sense that in you. That's why I wasn't even going to ask that. I don't, I don't, I know, but I don't, I don't, I don't sense that you

change anything, but I, because I feel like you've learned and you've rebounded. Like, if you were someone that dwell, which I don't sense in you, like I might ask that, but I can tell you don't dwell. You, you're a problem solver. You're a fix. or a fighter or whatever it is. I don't know. I don't even know you, but that's what I sense in you. Well, I think it's important. What I've learned in life, very young, and I believe that failure or what you perceive as failure to be is opportunity disguised as deep disappointment. I love that. I made that up, by the way. Did you really? All right. We're going to circle that one. That's going to make, we do highlight clips from these. That's making the highlight clips and going to be a

quote. And if you see that on my personal page, I will obviously give you credit, but I love that. But I believe that. And every single time, and I'm not exaggerating or lying about this, every single time one of those bumps in the road happened, always turned out to be the best thing that happened for me because it turned me around in another direction and brought new opportunity. If that hadn't have happened, I wouldn't have met my husband. If I hadn't gotten sick, I wouldn't have written a book. Or if I hadn't written a book, I wouldn't have come up with the idea for the food company that we just started.

So everything turns out for a reason. And when you look back on it, did it hurt? Did you cry? Did you do? Yeah, I did all of that. Did I get mad? Did I believe in letting your feeling, to show your true feelings. And you don't have to hold anything back.

It's okay to be sad. It's okay to be mad. It's okay to, you know, to act not cruelly, but it's okay, not clearly, but badly. As long as you're not, you know, physically hurting anybody or say or your words. You have to be careful with your words too because those are hurtful. Hey, guys, you know where to find us. We're at the radcast.com. You'll find all the highlights from today.

I'm Matt Ryan offered on all the platforms, including TikTok. where I'm blowing up. Go find me there. We'll see you next time on the Radcast. To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, the dot rad. dot cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.