Trading Secrets - 188. More Than Money: Less than $10k after 10 years as an actor?! Social media sensation Emily Gross spills ALL the numbers behind her career!

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by social media influencer, content creator, and actress, Emily Gross! Emily dives into how she ended up going to business school, how she was able to shift gears to pursue her passion for acting, why going to growlings was important to her, how improv can be used in other careers, the hustling that goes into acting, how she was able to earn her SAG card, how the union protects actors, how her social media presence took off, and the behind-the-scenes about working in the restaurant industry. It’s an episode you can’t afford to miss!  Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guest: Emily Gross Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial 

Today we are joined by social media influencer, content creator, actress Emily Gross. Emily is known for her funny, relatable, real-life scenario content across her social media platforms, which has caught the eye of followers everywhere, although she is a former business school graduate, Emily quickly realized her love for acting and performing outweighed her business career path and pivoted to a social media career where she could share herself with the entire world. With a baby on the way due in September, Emily is adjusting to new ways of creating content while being pregnant. Today we are going to learn about her love for acting, comedy that led to her career in social media and how both positively and negative life experiences can influence

the way you actually create content. Emily, thank you so much for being here on Trading Secrets. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, in preparation for this, I went on your TikTok, and your last, like, four or five TikToks are just popping off. You're going viral by the second over here. It's unbelievable. Thanks.

Well, they don't all go off. Sometimes they don't, then I delete them. Yeah, it's a tough business. We'll get into that business. But before we get, oh, and you'll delete them. We'll talk about that, too. But before we get into that, you know, I'm looking at your resume. I see that you graduated from Arizona State.

with a degree in business communications in criminal justice. And you dabbled in the business world a little bit before going into entertaining, right? Like you worked a little bit at like Allstate. Like, what did that look like? Yeah, I, like, it was never what I wanted to do. Yeah. So I wanted to go to school for acting. And my dad was like, get a life.

That's not happening. So you can go and I'll pay for it, but you have to study business. He was a doctor and he like was obsessed with me having a business degree. Yes. I didn't know why. but he just did. So I went to ASU. I met my husband.

And then we started dating my senior year. And I was like, okay, well, we're going to have to break up at the end of the year because I'm moving to LA to become an actress.

He was like, well, I'll go with you, but I'm getting my MBA. So will you wait? So I was like, fine. So then for a year,

I worked at Allstate because my father-in-law worked at All-State. So he got me a job. Okay. My dad was like, this is it. She doesn't want to become an actress anymore.

Your dad was pumped about this. Oh, my God. He was so happy. My daughter made it. She's selling insurance. Yeah, like, he was so happy. I worked in the marketing department. Like, and I was like, no, this is temporary.

Like, it's not for me. It's not a bad job. Yeah. My husband currently sells insurance. So, like, no, she has insurance insurance. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a great. It's a great.

It's a great. What kind of insurance you sell? What kind of insurance is he sell? What have to have you come on? The one and two's here. Yeah, like all kinds. A whole insurance breakdown. Colorado home and life.

Okay, there you go. That is a huge business thing. Property and casualty? We're going to have to do a follow-up on insurance with your husband. All right, so it's really interesting. Your last name's gross. My mother's last name is gross. So I'm assuming Jewish.

Yes. Okay, yes. Good assumption. My grandfather always wanted to go into the arts. He wanted to go into theater and music and acting. And his father told him, Grandpa Gross, Dave Gross, said in this family, you don't do that. You're not going to go into arts.

You're not going to go to acting. you have a few options. You could be a doctor, you can be a lawyer, or you can be an accountant. Those are your only options. And when he told him that, you know, especially in those days, impressionable is the wrong word,

more of a traditionalist. You don't really challenge the people above you, right? You do what you're told. And so he went to be a dentist, he was an oral surgeon, became a professor. But like even to the day on his deathbed, he still would talk about like,

you know, how he's had some bit of regret. And he had a very great career, and he felt good about it, but a little bit of regret of not being able to pursue that. So I can understand how challenging that can become. When you end up taking that leap of faith, what do mom, dad, and family say when you're like, all right, I'm going for it, even though I literally got an Arizona state degree in business communications. So I always knew that this was my plan. So I worked two jobs while I was in college to save up.

And I was really lucky that my dad helped me out. He, like, gave me money in college. Yep. He cut me off the day I graduated. Okay. I was like, okay, still have another month's rent. He was like, I don't care, figure it out. But I had saved up, like, 40 grand.

You saved up 40 grand? Yeah. Working what kind of jobs? I was a nanny, and I worked at a restaurant. How much you get paid as a nanny? 17 an hour. 17 an hour. And then what did you make in the restaurant business?

Like 150 a night. Okay, so then what was your tip for saving that much? Because that's impressive. I got really lucky because, honestly, my dad was helping me. So, like, I can't take all the crap. like he was still helping me like giving me like 500 a month sure so I just tried to live on like a super tight budget yeah and every night after I would leave the restaurant I would go and I would put that money away at the bank and I wouldn't touch it got you tried to like not you didn't spend much

that no okay all right so you saved 40 grand and I didn't really drink that much in college yeah and I feel like a lot of money is like like goes to alcohol true that's true yeah okay so you save 40 grand you then go to L.A and you quit the Allstate job right yeah yeah Yes, yes, that was temporary. Temporate. Give me an idea, though, because we're on it. We do it on trading secrets. Someone at Allstate in the marketing department entry level could make around what?

So I was making, so since I had told my father-in-law straight up, like, hey, this isn't, like, what's going to happen for me? This isn't like my career. Yeah. I made $500 a week. Okay. And that was in 2013. And how many hours a week were you working? 40.

Wow. Okay. So 26 grand a year. Yeah. Okay. Not a lot at all-state marketing. You might want to be in sales, not in marketing. So 26K a year, you decide to take the leap of faith.

You got 40K in your pocket. You say I'm going to get into comedy. What does it look like when you arrive in L.A.? So Groundlings was like something that was really important to me, which was like an improv school. Okay. Similar to like a second city or an I.O. And you have to audition. And that was like my main thing.

I was like, I'm going to go to L. I'm going to join Groundlings or like audition to take classes there. So you have to audition to like get into. the school. Okay. Real quick, some people listen to this and not know what improv means. Can you explain? So improv is like a form of comedy where you like make it up on the spot. So you get suggestions from the audience. It could be a range of things like, oh, you guys are at a coffee shop, go. And then you have to like develop your own character and develop a scenario like immediately. Okay. So I wanted to do that. I want to like just play make believe and then join or audition for

groundlings, I was able to get in, and then you just start taking classes. And then you get to a certain level and you can start performing on the student stage. And it's just like the most fun and exhilarating thing in the world. But you have to get to a certain level to like even get offered to join Sunday company, which is the group of really amazing talented people that perform on Sundays. Okay. One thing about just the overarching theme of improv is whether you're a comedian or you're any human with two ear holes listening to this. You have to use a little improv in your life. It could be with your partner, your wife, your husband. It could be on a date.

It could be with your boss. It could be in a presentation. So in your experience through improv training, what are some of the tips that people back home, no matter what they do or how they do it, they can start to utilize into their everyday lives. So a lot of improv is like listening and responding. Okay.

So instead of like having your own agenda, just like listen and then respond. So a lot of time in improv, they'll be like, your teacher will be like, you're not listening. so that's like and it's yes and so you're always adding so instead of like bringing it back to yourself like oh this is my own idea you're putting it on the other person one of the tough things about that though at least i would think is if you're listening and then responding you have to be thinking about your response while simultaneously listening right yeah and so is part of the tactic of a yes

and and like i'm going to repeat exactly what you say so i have more time to just say it and then add my contribution or do you have to be that quick? You're not supposed to. Interesting. Like you can, if you need to buy yourself time, you know, repeat it and then go from there. But you should be able to just respond. And does it come with practice? Yes.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I would leave crying. I'm like, I'm leaving LA. I'm terrible. I'm not funny. Like, this is bad. It's a learning curve for sure.

and you have to put in the time. You have to go to shows. You have to see how other people do improv because it is hard. It's not easy. Okay. So we have some people that come on the show. They're content creators.

They're in all different industries and they'll talk about the fact they'll go to improv class or acting class. And anyone can participate in that no matter what you do. What is the hours of commitment and then how much does it cost to get into a school like this?

So I believe, although don't call me, I believe the audition is free. Okay. And then I would have class either two or three days a week, and it would normally be from like 10 to 130. Okay. That would be like Tuesdays and Thursdays. I want to say it was like 375 per session.

Okay. I believe. I'm not 100% sure on the numbers, and they might have changed. Okay. But that's what I believe it is. So it's definitely, you know what? It might have been 500. Yeah.

It's definitely a commitment. Okay. And you have to, you know, be willing to pay for it. Okay. It's worth it. It's obviously less than $500. what most people would take to go to other schools, right, universities. So it's affordable when put in perspective to that.

But I don't want to say unlike university because some universities, based on what you study, it works out, it doesn't work. But one of the somewhat correlations is in comedy. It is not known for a high earnings profession. So you go into this, you got 40K saved, you get through improv class. Are you guaranteed a role somewhere?

Are you guaranteed auditions? Are you guaranteed some kind of income? What does it look like when a comedian finishes their work and their training in improv school? You're guaranteed nothing. Okay. Like, it's a grind. So I was working at a restaurant. I was submitting myself on Actors Access.

Which is what? A website where you can, like, submit yourself to get auditions. So it was a lot of student films, a lot of, like, non-sag projects. So, like, not union projects, but you have to get your foot in the door. So you have to go to these auditions That might not be something that you're That's like your ideal job But you have to do it

Okay So I was doing a lot of that I did a lot of like night shoots for free So I like worked on a movie And I had to get there I think at like 7 p.m. And I left at 6.30 like for free Just to get like a credit

So it was it was rough at times But like it's you have to love it Because it's fun Like you have to like realize that that's fun And if you go there and you're doing all that stuff and you don't like it, then it's not for you. Okay. Being an actor's not for you.

What was the website again? Actors access. Actors access. Yeah, there's other ones like casting networks. There's a bunch of different ones that people can look up and start submitting themselves on. Okay. So in the recap, we'll kind of list all of them. My question is, though, can anyone that's listening to this, even if they're a teacher and

nurse, can they just apply to be an actor or do you have to have a school credential? No, no, no. Anybody can get on those sites. Anybody can submit themselves. Anybody can get on those sites. You should get headshots. Okay. So headshots are like super important.

Okay. But the, you know, the schooling and the resume is on there. So, you know, having an acting class, having an improv class is important. And they're not in all areas. Okay. So I don't know, like, I don't know all of the areas where they offer like auditions or projects. But L.A. was one of them. I know it's L.A., New York and Atlanta.

Atlanta here is a hot spot right now. Okay. So for anyone that's like just interested in the industry, you want to take a shot at acting. you put your your resume in you get a couple calls you get a couple credits you would already said it sag it feels to me like every actor actress their goal their first step is to get into sag is that correct and if so why and what does sag mean for those who don't have any idea so that was always like my main goal and actually it was funny i was going through my old pictures and i showed my husband and i ended up joining in 2019 and we moved there in 2014 wow so it took me all of that

years? Yes. So I was able to join because I did a bunch of soap operas. I was an extra on soap operas. Wow. Yeah, that I submitted myself for. Did you ever have to like do anything? Like soap operas, I feel like all I do is make out on camera. I was an extra. Sorry husband. Did you ever have to do that? I was an extra. So no. His cousin's an actor. So he knows. He's, he grew up. So he knows. I have never done that. I never got to that level. But luckily he's secure. He gets the business, which is why I always felt really lucky when we moved because he had grown up with a cousin as an actor. So he knows what it entails. What it takes. Yeah, what it takes. Okay, so five years to get into SAG. Explain to people, though, who just like don't have any idea,

why is everyone trying to get into SAG and what does it mean once you get in? Like, why is it such a thing to get in? So the union protects you. Okay. Union projects are the legitimate projects. Okay. So those are the ones that are, yeah, regulated by the union. They offer all of these protections, you can get health insurance once you join SAG, and all of the, anything that's like on a network. Yeah. So any network production will be SAG. Okay. So if you want to get to like the big time stuff, you're going to want to join the union. So even like the biggest show, Spider-Man, Deadpool, Deadpool, all of those, like all the biggest actors in the world, right? Like George Clooney, when he's doing Oceans 11, he's working through SAG. Is that correct? Yeah. Well, he's,

Yeah, he's protected by set. Protected by set. So they regulate set conditions. They regulate your pay. Okay. They regulate the environment that you're in when you're on a set. Okay, got it. So 2014, you start this career track.

2019, you get in a sag. Give me an estimation from 2014 to 2019. How much are you making as an actor, like all combined? $5. Like you just weren't earning anything. No, no, no, no. I mean, well, okay, so the soap operas, I got 118 per episode. $118, $1,18? What?

Yeah. Now, if you're protected by SAG, that wouldn't be the case, right? Well, extras are different. Okay. And there's, I want to say that SAG extras maybe get 180. Okay. But they can, they're more consistent, I believe. Okay.

So I got lucky that they hired me as a non-union actress to be on these certain, it was like one of the loopholes. Okay. Because it became really hard. He used to be able to, like, create a student project. like go to SAG, say you're going to do this project, and then you could like get in that way. It was like a loophole and then they shut it off because everyone was doing it. So five years in this, in a serious note, it's very fair to say in five years of acting full time,

you earned less than $10,000? Yes. Easily less than $10,000. Okay. So some people say, I'm going to go to L.A. and give acting one year based on your experience, what's your response to that? Some people get lucky. Okay.

Some people do. Okay. It's not the case most of the time. Yeah. But some people do. And if you have a career, like, I worked at a restaurant and I was able to make, like, good money. And I lived with my boyfriend at the time, who's now my husband. So he was able to help me as well.

And we had, like, a nice fun life there. Yeah. So I always say if you're going to go and, like, struggle really bad and not enjoy the journey, then don't do it. Then don't do it. But I was able to, like, really enjoy the whole process. like I loved it. I loved all of it. I loved going to those student film auditions, even if they were like in CD parts of town. Like I just enjoyed the whole experience. Amazing. The reason I asked question too is I saw I was watching something on Brian Cranston and he talked about the fact that

he said acting is a it's a lifetime. It's a lifestyle. What direction you go and where you go and when you get lucky is all up for the luck gods, right? But he said he had been doing it for 20 years before he got Malcolm in the middle. And then it took him until the age of 50. to get Breaking Bad. So, you know, it was literally a lifetime commitment if that's the direction you want to go. You go five years, you get into SAG, 2019. Before we get into that, from the restaurant business, you're working full time at what kind of restaurant? It was a sushi restaurant called Ketsuya. Okay, I think I've been there. Yeah. It's still open. I think so on Hollywood and Vine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Amazing. It was great. In a restaurant like that, like how much you're

pulling a night? Around 350 to 400. That's pretty. pretty good. Yeah, it was great. Cash? Yeah. Damn. It was fabulous. So that's why I got really, really, really lucky working there because I was able to support my lifestyle. And I ended up working at the restaurant that I worked at in college when I worked at Allstate waiting for my husband to finish school. Yep. Because my manager's sister at the restaurant, I worked at in Arizona. Her sister worked for like corporate Katsuya at the time. Okay. The company was called SBE. Got it. Interesting. So you're making four 400 bucks cash a night in the restaurant you're making nothing trying to pursue this acting career 2019 hits you get into sag 2019 we're in 2024 we'll talk about your social media presence

and everything else you're doing from an acting standpoint what has the career looked like since you got into sag in the last five years so i got really lucky i have i'm like really trying to pursue the voiceover part of everything okay so i have like amazing voiceover agents and so i'm able I have like a booth in our apartment. And I do my voiceover auditions from there. Interesting. And then I have a really great theatrical agent and a really great commercial agent as well. So I'm, I'm really lucky.

I'm rifling through all my notes. We did not pick up anything on voiceover work. So as a voiceover specialist, like what are things that you're actually using your voice to go over? And what does something like that pay? So that's, that varies. So that's still protected by SAG. So all of the projects that I auditioned for are protected by SAG as well.

So they normally have minimum. So sometimes it'll be like 192 an hour with a two hour minimum. Depending on if you book like a commercial or what the project entails. I really want to get into animation, but that is extremely difficult to break into. Well, when you say voiceover, the first thing I think of is like Toy Story. So what are some other voiceover things that us back home aren't thinking of? So like any commercial, so anything you would hear on like the radio. Oh, just like there's B-roll and there's a voice story.

behind. Yes, exactly. Can you do your voiceover voice? Do you have like a typical Emily voiceover voice? So it's funny. A lot of the auditions now say like no announcer,

no announcer type. Ladies and gentlemen, boys, Anger. None of that. So like sometimes I would go a little bit higher and try to be like this, but they don't want that. They want just a regular voice.

They want just this voice right here. Kind of a little bit more polished. What's the most obscure voice you've done voiceover-wise? I don't really, I sometimes I get auditions for like little boys no way yeah give me a little boy let's hear a little boy oh well it so there's like um a bunch of different people that I really like but mostly I'm really liking this girl my school and she's so pretty but I don't think she knows about me at all so

that's amazing and so are you still doing voiceover work yeah so I I do voiceover auditions I haven't booked like a legit job yet okay anything anything still being pursued in the actress realm or yeah yeah i still i still have like theatrical agents i still get auditions amazing it's been like a little bit difficult okay being pregnant okay but i still have had multiple like really really cool auditions good for you so 2014 to 2024 10 years and you're still grinding your gears in the actress space trying to make that next shot happen yeah okay and in the 10 years that you've been working on this and we know you've had a lot of success elsewhere but so it's not to demonstrate that it's just as a learning lesson for people back home in these 10 years is it fair that you've

made less than 10,000 dollars in total from acting not including social media not include of course yeah yeah yeah okay I think it's good perspective we talk a lot in this show of some big paydays people get but we often sometimes miss where people are pursuing passions but where financially it's extremely challenging right now now transitioning into the comedy space you've done from all the research I've seen over like 30 shows on stage. Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah, because I would do different types of, yes, all different types. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now, comedy, acting, it's totally different, though, right? Like, different planets or no. They're similar. How so? So, like, if you go on, like, if you go on audition, they're going to want you to have an improv background.

Because they like the riffing. Even for acting. Yeah. Okay. Interesting. So, So they kind of go hand in hand. Okay. And I had a really amazing acting coach in L.A., who was my manager for a little while, and she was amazing. Okay. And because I've always wanted to pursue comedy, like sitcoms or just the comedy space, they really encourage you to have an improv background.

Okay. Interesting. And, yeah, they just really complement each other. And in the last 10 years of pursuing acting while you're doing, going through improv training, and then working the comedic element of it, like doing stand-up and comedy work, aside from social media, how has that business trajectory gone?

Good, but if you put my social media aside, I haven't made any money doing any of that. Like legit money, like over $10,000. Yeah, you'll do a stand-up gig, make a couple hundred bucks or something. I've never really, I've only done one stand-up gig. Yeah, interesting. And you don't get paid for any of your shows.

Yeah, a lot of them are just trying to get, you're just doing it. You're trying to get practice. Yes. Now, the crazy thing, and the reason I dove so deep into that is because you're 10 years, you're focused, you're in L.A., you're grinding at the restaurant industry, you're doing everything and anything to make it in both of these spaces. And then, boom, overnight, social media, TikTok.

I go on one of your TikToks today, you got four million humans engaging in it. And one of them where you're comparing, like, the, I think it's like the girl that bullied you in high school. And you're talking about, like, how they could go to the grocery store and, like, compare each fruit to the size of the baby. and it's unbelievable satire and it's just beautiful. You have four million people and a million people liking that. Like you think about, you know, the Super Bowl.

There's 75,000 people in that stadium. You've got 10 plus of those stadiums now liking. And then 40 plus of them watching. So in so many years of trying to get there and get the eyeballs, overnight you get them on social media. Is it fair to say that if you want to be an actor or comedian, like the only or the highest likelihood of any form of success is now on social media as opposed to doing these auditions for me and it wasn't overnight it took a long time yeah so i started

i had friends actually that were overnight successes on the internet okay i started and i didn't want to because i felt like it was going to ruin the integrity of my acting career interesting so i was i really fought it for a while and i was like i can't i can't make tictox like nobody's going to take me seriously as an actress. Yeah. And then I have a friend who does really well, and she's like, just do it, just do it. So I started posting and posting and like, you know, 500 views, 300 views. And then I had one that got 20,000.

I was like, oh, my God. I got 20,000. Like, it was amazing. It was amazing. And it was one of me making myself as, making fun of myself as a 13-year-old. I put a mustache on and a unibrow because, like, I was a dork at 13. I was hairy and my last name was gross. And that one got 20,000.

And then my friend was like, just double. down and then the next one got like 40,000. Wow. And then I just kept going and then I didn't want to like pigeonhole myself into that niche of like just being me as a 13 year old. So then I just like broaden my horizons and then tried to like tap into parts of my life that I could make fun of. Okay. Which is a lot of what my comedy is is me making fun of myself. Yeah, which is interesting. It's like you're tapping into the like it's funny that someone's superpower can actually be just pointing the finger back at themselves because it showcases that relatability. What also is interesting is you had the fear of getting on social media would impact the seriousness of how

you're looked upon as an actress or comedian, while my take, and correct me if I'm wrong, is now actresses and comedians who have serious reputations are doing everything in their power to get seen on social media. Is that correct? Yes. Yes. How backwards, right? It's kind of crazy, but it's also kind of cool because you're able to do it from anywhere. Yeah. So anybody at any times able to pick up their phone and create something and then put it out to the world. Yeah. But when you look at, so an actresses on TV are being streamed and a comedian's on stage, which then could be streamed.

But social media, you're getting more eyeballs. It's just not on the TV screen. It's on your phone. Do you think that the social media platform is more powerful for those industries than actually pursuing it via streaming and on TV? on stage? I mean, I think it's extremely powerful and I think it's, it can be extremely lucrative.

Yeah. So I just think, I think in some ways they do kind of compliment each other. But I, and I still think that like, because of the staying power of being on TV, people still wanna pursue that, I mean, like me. Yeah. You know, like it's just, there's a legitimacy to it.

Yeah, there's legit, and it's sex, like you get a call for a TV thing and you're, you know, you get a brand, it's so funny, you get a brand, like, You know, there are times I'll get offered to do like unscripted TV or things on TV and it will be paid one hundredth of what a brand deal will be. But I just get more excited than a brand deal. And I don't know if that's because tradition still instilled because I don't know that it's the impact. Like if you like if I go on Good Morning America, right, I had two segments on Good Morning America for my book.

It did not do shit for any. Like I didn't get increased following. Maybe I got tagged in a few things. Like it doesn't do anything. It just feels good. Yeah. But I'm like, that's so cool. I'm like, that's amazing.

We think it's cool, but it's going to do it, which is interesting. It is interesting. I think there's just so many misperceptions out there about this industry, which I find fascinating. But as far as the business is social media, took you some time. You've built a huge following. Every time I look at your profile, you're gaining more followers and more likes by the second. How is the actual economics of TikTok and Instagram treating you as it relates to income? Good.

So now TikTok pays you for videos that are over a minute. yes and I didn't even realize that for a long time okay I did not realize that until my friend was like hey I was like what happened to the creator fun and she was like wear your videos over a minute I'm like I try to make all of them you know 59 seconds at least so they don't hit that minute mark she's like are you are you okay one second I'm like oh my god so much it's fine it wasn't meant to be so now I'm consciously trying to make some of them at least over a minute long okay so that I can I can make money from them and then I make a good amount from brand deals. I try to not do like so many. I try to do ones that like really mean something to me. I mean, not all of them.

If I feel like I can connect and make something good and funny, then I like that brand deal. Yeah, absolutely. From the creator fund, have you, because it feels like no one's able to really understand exactly what you're paid for your views. Have you figured out like, okay, you got a minute video and let's just say for the sake of conversation you get a million views do you have any idea what that correlates to as far as pay well it changes yeah so i thought it was like i thought it was a hundred dollars per 100 000 views but then if you go in there and you can see yeah the rate will change yeah so then like i on one video i was getting a dollar 14 per i was getting like a dollar 14 per view i believe. Per view. Not per view. That's wrong. No, because that'd be a million bucks. That that one

worked out. That'd be sweet. It was the rate was like a dollar 14. I can't remember per thousand. Per thousand. Okay. Okay. And then it's now down to like 86. It has changed. Okay. 86 cents. So somewhere in the range of a hundred bucks for a hundred thousand views. So if you have a million, let's just call it on average, a million viewed TikTok at 60 seconds, somewhere in the thousand dollar range. You're going to get for that. Yeah. Yeah. Depend. Depend. Okay. To give or take, I guess, like maybe 20 cents. Yeah.

Okay. I'm assuming. All right. So 10 years in comedy, an actress, less than $10,000 gross, a couple years in social media, more than six figures of gross income? Close. Yeah, close. Right around there.

Unbelievable. And so where do you go from here? So you have all this, you have 10 plus years in the entertainment space. you're picking up on social media in a big way you have the voice over space there's so many different direction given your skill set like where do you when you look at your business plan what's the emily growth business plan look like well i actually still work at a restaurant wow yeah and so my goal is to be able to do this full time as soon as the baby comes amazing so that's been like my dream my yeah my current dream okay and some in the restaurant that i work at is

Great. I make great money. I mean, you're TMEA, I have to ask. I don't know if you could share because you currently work there, but like, what do you make in there? Like, over six figures. Over six figures? Yeah. Oh, my goodness gracious. So I haven't been able to quit.

And are you managing or you're a waitress or bartender? I'm a waitress. Waitress making over six figures. Damn. I haven't been able to quit. Wow. Because I'm like, the money's too good. Okay.

Let me ask you a couple more questions before we wrap. When you're seeing, because I've been doing these new things on Instagram, I'm playing with it with taking the money relating it to food and do it yourself first going out. And I'm comparing prices of like a steak dinner at home versus steak dinner out, like et cetera, et cetera. I did one that was at a Nashville restaurant, same bottle line, same steak, same exact amount of shrimp, same everything. It went from $90 and out with a tip and valet. It was like $550. It was crazy. When you're seeing receipts, where are people overpaying the most?

yeah i mean honestly in the in the meat and wine meat and alcohol yeah it's mostly i think the i think the profit margins are profit margins are highest in the alcohol okay that makes i think it makes that makes sense but obviously there's like a lot of tax restriction the last question i got for you is consumers when we go out to dinner to nice meals give us like some kind of trading secret in the restaurant industry we should think about before we order maybe it's the quality or maybe it's like you're way overpay here or like skip out on this or I don't know is there any tips or tricks as it relates to like being a consumer at a restaurant that as a waitress you're like yeah watch out for this I feel like I don't really have any yeah I feel like you can well because sometimes like sometimes

if you go on a website they'll have like the restaurant's website they'll have like a coupon yeah oh you can do that okay but other than that not really because like when when we go out we like we get drinks my husband will get a drink we get a drink we get appetizers. We'll normally get a salad. We get mains and dessert. Like, I don't really have. Yeah. One thing I did hear is that, because I do the same thing. Yeah. But my eyes are 10 times bigger than my stomach. It's a problem I have. So I heard that servers and waitresses will actually, you know, as I'm saying this, I'm wondering, like, is there a politically correct? Like, is waitress waiters still a thing? Or did you say servers? Mostly server. Okay. Let me get back.

But it's fine. It's fine. I'm learning as I don't. know why waitress makes me laugh yeah i don't know it seems so old school yeah i'm like what okay i think i mean i think it would it would be servers but you can say wait i was thinking 18 times too when i said actor and actress i'm like is that right or do you just refer to everyone as an actor yeah i don't know anyway whatever neither here nor there we're not worried about the perfectly uh politically correct things but what i what i do what i did here is that they will make sure that they put your full order in because if you order appetizers, then the appetizers come. You start to realize that you're full,

then you're going to order less for dinner. So they always will want your full order in because they know that your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Do you do that? Yeah. But not for that reason. Okay. So due to the volume of the restaurant, yeah, it's not for that reason.

It's because we have to make sure that we are in control of the table to turn it so that we can get them in and out in their two-hour turn time. So your goal is to turn a table in two hours. Yeah. Got it. Yeah, not because we think that. people will get full on the apps. The apps aren't that big.

Okay, I got another dumb question. No. And I'm asking for ethics here. I'm not asking for your, from a biased perspective. I want you to say from the core of what you think is right, when someone gets their bill, what do you think they should tip is question number one, a percentage? And then the second question I have for you is if someone buys a bottle of wine, should they tip the same percentage on the bottle of wine?

20%. Okay. And yes. Okay, 20% on the bottle of wine, too. Yeah, because, well, like, where I work, we have a smolier. Yeah. So normally he'll do the presentation. Yeah.

He's pouring it. They're checking it on you. They're going over the wine. Like, it's still part of the experience. Does the Somalia get tipped out? He gets a percentage, but I don't know how, I don't know how, I don't believe he gets tipped out. I believe he makes money on the sale of the wine.

Okay, interesting. Got it. Yeah. So the reason I ask is in that example I did online. It was a $60 bottle. at the store was on sale. I think retail at the store is like 75, 60 at the store. At the restaurant, it was 275.

Now, the only difference, which is interesting, is the year. The year at the store was a 2021. The year that was in the Somalié wine folio, if you will, was a 2021 too, but they brought out a 2020. And I caught it. I actually said to me, oh, that's a 2020. I got a 2021 because it's all we have. Are you okay with? I said, yes, but it was 275.

So you're talking about a five-time difference. So in the comments, I tip 20% on the whole meal, but in the comments, people are arguing, do you tip 20% on the wine or do you tip it just on the meal and a smaller percentage? But we're hearing it from your mouth, you've been in the industry for 10 years, 20% on everything. That's what I would say. Okay, last question I got for you. What's the largest tip you've ever got at a restaurant? I want to say like 3,500.

What? Yeah, I think so. How much was the bill? I think during, I think during Super Bowl. Was that one of those people that won the lottery and the bill was like 35 bucks and they tipped you 3,500? Or was just the bill that big? It was just an old rich man. Holy shit.

Yeah. How much was the bill total? I think the bill was like maybe 5,000. Wow. So you tipped almost 100%. Yeah. You know, when I get old and like I don't want to go with it all, I think I'm going to do that too. It's really nice.

Just find good people and do stuff like that. It's really amazing, and I feel really grateful to be on the receiving end of that. Unbelievable. Well, we talked about so much, and there's so much more to talk about. We're going to have to have you back because I want to hear all about your journey with your new baby. If the dream comes true, I know that you have had an extremely long journey and where you are today, and I know that's played a big part of who you are in your storytelling.

So for everyone that is listening to this, go follow Emily Gross on all socials, and you'll get to follow this journey. Where can people find everything that you have going on? Emily.org on Instagram and Emily dot-da-gross on TikTok. Okay, and go, I'm telling you, check out these TikToks and reels. They're fucking hilarious, every single one of them. Emily, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah.