Trading Secrets - 203. Jonathon Johnson: Bachelorette fan favorite breaks down his career as a creative director, working with brands, finding balance post-show, and clearing up rumors

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by creative director, content creator, and reality TV personality from his time on Jenn Tran’s season of The Bachelorette, Jonathon Johnson! Jonathon captured the hearts of viewers during season 21 of The Bachelorette but was sent home after fantasy suites in Hawaii. Since his time on the show, Jonathon has continued his career as a creative director for a creative agency in LA on top of being a freelance content creator and strategist for TikTok. More recently, Jonathon has caught the attention of media outlets everywhere with his content that includes clips of Jenn Tran, sparking rumors of their rekindled romance.  Jonathon gives insight to how he would define his friendship with Jenn since the end of the show, the difficulty of standing up and being vocal for what he believes in while balancing the public image, the likelihood of him going to Bachelor in Paradise, what his work looks like since the show, and breaking down the art of working with brands with content creation. Jonathon also reveals that sales is his sweet spot, being there for the right reasons, his perspective on his season of the Bachelorette, what connections he has to DWTS, and manifesting his dream future. Did he talk about money in the fantasy suite? What is his love language?  Jonathon reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!                                                     Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guest: Jonathon Johnson Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial  Trading Secrets Steals & Deals! Washington Post: With the election rapidly approaching, now is the time to sign up for The Washington Post.  Go to WashingtonPost.com/SECRETS to subscribe for just 50 cents per week for your first year. That’s 80% off their typical offer, so this is truly a steal. Monarch Money: Monarch is the top-rated, all-in-one personal finance app where you get  a comprehensive view of all your accounts, investments, transactions and more. Create custom budgets, track progress toward financial goals, and collaborate with your partner. For your extended thirty-day free trial, go to Monarchmoney.com/SECRETS Shopify: Upgrade your business and get the same checkout we use with Shopify. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY.COM/secrets

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by creative director, content creator, in reality TV personality from his time on Jen Tran season of the Bachelorette, ABC Jonathan Johnson. Jonathan captured the hearts of viewers during season 21 of the best. Bachelorette, but was sent home after fantasy suites in Hawaii. Since his time on the show, Jonathan has continued on his career as a creative director for a creative agency in L.A. on top of being a freelance content creator and strategist for

TikTok. More recently, Jonathan has caught the attention of media outlets everywhere with his content that includes clips with Jen Tran, sparking rumors of their rekindled romance. Although John has stated that they are just friends, it begs the question on what the future together may be or holds for John. We are going to cover everything within Jonathan's entrepreneurial career path, including his freelance creative content work, his experience on the Bachelorette and what he sees in his future, both personally and professionally. Jonathan, thank you so much for being on sharing secrets. Yeah, thanks for having me. A lot of action for you lately. I feel like you're everywhere. I would say if I had a word to

describe Jonathan, it would be trending. We have so much to get into, but we are seeing you. all over dancing with the stars. I mean, your front and center, at this point, you might as well be a dancer. You know, you're at every single show. How's the feel? What do you see in as a viewer front row every week at Dancing with Stars? I mean, I'm seeing the best of the best kind of go after. I get to see like the live energy and everybody just kind of come together and have a fun, just inclusive time. But I think the coolest thing about like being there is somehow like I'm a part of Jen's journey on the show. Like there isn't a single time that her and I leave the show where we don't see a video.

Somebody from up in the rafter is kind of like filming down like, oh my God, what are they going to do today? What's like, what's up next? Which is really cool. I mean, it is cool to see that like our friendship is kind of flourishing and people still want to see that happen and are very adamant about it coming to life. But, no, we are just friends, but. Okay.

So we are just friends. I knew that I was coming. Yeah, I mean, I think what's interesting, especially on this podcast where we take different angles, right? It's looking at like the reality. of what's happening, but also like there's a business side of everything and there's also different economics of Dancing with Stars. We look at ratings and stuff like that. And there is something interesting behavioral here from the outside in. There's so many people that are

interested in kind of pushing for this. It feels like Jen, of course, had a tough go. And you were the one that was like, I'm going to be back in the game as a friend. And that's what sparked this. but, like, how would you define what your friendship is that is creating so many people at all different angles wanting more of a piece of it? I think from a outside perspective, like take myself out of the equation, just like me looking in as a third person viewer,

I think people love love and they want to believe in love. And they watch The Bachelor because it's not like other reality shows where you have like a Love Island where people's like, fucking around and do whatever. The goal is to find somebody that you spend the longevity of your life with and have fun and like that real love. I think people still tune in for that. Like when it doesn't work out with one or two,

they're like, all right, well, with food, could it have been? And when it comes to it, they don't want to see this girl end up alone or sad or heartbroken or hurt by whoever it might be. So I think when they see a person that they're like, wow, that should have been the person or this is a great fit, whatever it might be, they're standing and they're like, hey, girl, like, you still could potentially go back to this guy, you know? So I think from the outside perspective, people want to take her on. They

want to support her and say, hey, we don't make mistakes, but there's this dude who still has so much love for you and cares for you. Like, we would love to see that happen. And I think people understand and know that like we're just friends because we both have said it very publicly and are very adamant about it. But people want to see that love that they've watched the Bachelor bachelor's at four. And we're just kind of at the forefront of it. And we have so much love for each other and so much love to give one another that people are kind of like Ms. Katrina. It's like, yes, we are giving each other so much love and we love the shit out of each other. But as of right now, it is just a friendly love, you know? Yeah. No, I love the honesty. It's

tough for, I'm sure, someone like you to even have to like address these things. But it comes with the nature, like, and the platform of the responsibility. And obviously, so many people have the best interest of you because they love you and the best interest of her because they love her. So they're kind of shipping that. I have a business question for you as it kind of connects to what you've done in positions that you've been in lately that kind of ties to this. So you've been in freelance content creation, strategist for TikTok, you've worked for an agency now in L.A. You've been a creative director for the lab. And you even worked as a professional recruiter. Then you get put into this world, which you have some familiarity with, and become a fan favorite. And in the goodness of your heart, and I don't want to get like in the weeds of drama here, but in the goodness of your heart, someone you become friends with on the show, something happens. You step up. You make a comment as a result of you making a comment. Then you're getting kind of backlash associated with it. So you're learning this, right? Yeah, you're learning these worlds of stepping into webs and like getting caught in them. Is there any part of you,

that is like, is a little of this overwhelming? You're like, I'm kind of worried that, I don't know, everyone's saying that we're together and then I go on a date next week and now everyone's going to hate me because I'm not with Jen. Like from the business and brand side of it, does any of that concern you or what's your take on it? Yeah, it definitely is hard. And it's something that's very new for me is like,

before all this, I could be myself and I could stand up for what I believe in and the people I believe in. And based on that one alone, actually, too, is, something like what you were talking about to be any of that really hits home to me like I come from a home of domestic abuse and it's not something I take lightly but I also I take word for people

I know people's story and I feel like to have a pretty good judge of character so when I know somebody like heart to heart you know I like to take their story and I'm not dumb enough to not listen to the fact that there's always two sides to every story you know but when something I believe in comes up

but I want to let somebody know that they're not alone in this especially if a lot of people just turn on them for something whether it may or may not be hearsay or there's not evidence. There's things of, I don't even know how to put it to perspective, but it does feel like there's a pressure having to speak correctly in every facet of where I touch now. You know, I can't just speak on something and it be like a neutral standpoint

because somebody will have a certain way they feel about it in one way or another. So I have to like watch how I speak on things. it's really hard for me. You know, it's, I want to be a good person. I want to be there for people. And I'm really supportive of the people I care about that I live into my life, whether it be professional, personal, whatever it is. Yeah, it's, it's definitely a really hard thing for me to find balance those. And it makes me upset that I can't just speak on things the way that I want to sometimes. Yeah, it's like you have this like new filter that's come in. And that comes with a lot of, I don't know, so there's also a lot of praise. So there's,

there's good with what's happening, but it feels like the navigation of everything becomes a little bit more challenging, especially, and I could say this, like, your heart and your intention are just, it feels like are always in the right place. And so I feel like sometimes in this world, when, when that intention is pure, that attention's real, it makes it even more challenging, right? So there's, that's what it hurts too. You're like, I tried to be a good person and then speak on things the best that I can. And then people may take it the wrong way. And they're like, fuck, I'm sorry.

I'm really sorry. I'm just trying to be me. Yeah. And it's like this balance of even you just trying to be a good friend. Does being a good friend then become misconstrued by someone is saying, oh, he's doing it for this, this, or he's going to let her down or he goes on a date. And there's just so many challenges with that. But I'd also think like when you look at your career journey and that's what we talk a lot

of bit on this podcast, like this is, it feels like this is going to be a little bit of the foreseeable future for you. You know, you were announced going on Paradise. Obviously, a lot can change between now and then. But we talk numbers on this show. Give me Vegas odds. If I go to Vegas odds right now and look at the live vibes that I see Jonathan on that beach and I want to put a bet.

What do you think the percentages that you walk down on that beach next summer? Pretty high. I'm going to go with like 90%. 90%. I love it. I love it. Now, we go into personal, professional, and financial. This is a little personal.

We know that you and Jen are just friends, but is there anyone from Bachelor Nation you'd want to see on those sands? He'll keep asking me this question, and I do not know anybody well enough to answer that question. Like, I got to know somebody to really get excited about them and who they are, which also kind of lands me in a sticky spot because I don't want to start talking to somebody outside of the show,

and then you're kind of like locked in on somebody, and then people want to, like, run with that. I'm like, nope, I can't do that. So I kind of have to just go in, blind and open-minded for the most part. The most I'll be able to just have like, hey, this person is beautiful. Like, I would love to have a conversation with them. But that's not to say like, hey, I'm going to pursue this person because for me, like,

if the banter's not there and like that emotional connection is not there, I'm not going to get invested in whoever it might be. Yeah, exactly. I think it's a good idea. Just go in with a blank slate, see what happens. And who knows? Maybe there are some of the cast from Grant season that end up on the show. You don't even know who they are now.

So I think that's a good perspective. And the other thing I'll tell you is like maybe ABC won't like me for this, but it's just being as real as I want. We all want to see you on those beaches. We are all big fans of you, Jonathan. But at the same time, I think, you know, if something comes up, man, run with it. You know what I mean? Like living the president, something real comes up.

Don't put your whole life on hold for another year for the dating show. But if it doesn't, we can't wait to watch you on there. Now, a question I got for you is, you know, your freelance content. creator, then your strategist and your work at a creative agency right now. The wrap, filming wrapped, you see you at Dancing Stars here and there, work-wise, Monday to Friday. What does it look like for you? Yeah.

So we kind of changed our structure a little bit. So before I went on the show, we were doing like retainer clients. We were making completely organic and paid content across social media platforms and pretty much running and posting for our clients. Now, that being said, once I got back out, things kind of transitioned. I was gone for a long time. So my business partner kind of restructured is the wrong word, but kind of wanted to go in a different direction because the time consumption that we were putting into that was

like bottlenecking us extremely from like our actual passions of the world. So we've kind of turned it more into a package-based deal where we work with either startups or established companies giving them content packages. So we'll build them out a package where it's like, here is 30 deliverables over the next month that you can use over the next three months. Whatever it is that you need, we'll take care of it, deliver it in that one fell swoop. And then if you like us, you come back for more, you do whatever. So it's a singular package thing. So on months where, let's say, I get more into the social media side of things, and I'm having to do these brand deals and make these videos, I made it on the time to sit there and make recurring content day after day after day.

because I need to focus on myself, but this kind of opens us up to sprinting for a week and then having a week off because we can tell a client, like, hey, we actually don't have time to do this for you this coming week, but next month we'll actually have some availability just to do this. So rather than having like that retainer base line, which most people of theory, like, hey, retainer is good. Like, we want that. We want to know that we have consistent income coming in for us and where we stand, not so much because he has a mental health-focused building company, and that's his bread and brother. He loves that. He wants to build it. And for me, I have a lot of opportunities coming my way, and I really want to

take advantage of that as well and build upon the momentum that's been, you know, kind of bestowed upon me in such an incredible way. So I think this transition that we're kind of doing, working with different brands and clients, is definitely going to be a better way for us to kind to navigate. And we're going to do a lot of like a lot more like paid socials too. So I'm not strictly growth like UGC, like user-draming content. Yeah. So kind of sourcing talent, writing scripts, filming it, and just delivering maybe six different variations of the video

where they have like multiple that they can push, they can A, B, test, they can do whatever it is that they want to do with it and kind of run it in that way. So I'm excited for the future holes in the fact that we kind of get to work project to project rather than having to be stuck on a singular thing every single month. I love it. I think it's so fascinating. It's a business that's blowing up.

you're clearly really, really good at social media. We talk some dollars and cents here. So I'm just curious in this industry, if you take on a client, like say, say I come to you, Jonathan, I need help with my social media. I want you to help me kind of brainstorm, write some scripts, do all this stuff, like without any type of discounting or anything like that, like retail price. You said the word retainer. Like, what is something like that cost?

Wow. I mean, it's part of social media because you're also playing with client to client. And as much as you hate to say it, like, some clients are worth more than others. You can pitch them significantly higher. Like if you're familiar with like Poppy, like the Drake? Yeah, of course. Poppy, like if a Poppy reaches out, which again, they're doing great, very established versus like a Walmart. You know what I mean?

Like Walmart reaches out. I'm not going to make a singular video for them for the same. I'm going to make a singular video for Poppy, you know, because that the amount of viewers and eyes, you're kind of going based off of like what the reach is going to be across too. So that's where like if you made a UTC for organic versus for paid, you know, one is going to be pushed as an ad. People are going to be seeing this when they're swiping through Instagram, not just when they look to this company's feed.

A lot kind of goes into it. So give me those examples. I think it's genius in the fact of what you're saying. We're under a cool conversation here about the idea that the brands, the type of company, the amount of eyeballs that will see it will dictate the price point for something that's UGC. For anyone that's out there that doesn't know what UGC is,

it's user-generated content. So the idea of it is that people that are just really good at filming creative and writing scripts and putting it out there, Jonathan has a very popular face right now, but a lot of people out there are just really good at it

and they don't have any type of platform. Companies now will actually pay these people to make the videos and they will use those videos for their social media and other ways of advertising through dark listing, white listing,

organic pushes, et cetera. That's kind of the business side behind it. In that circumstance, what you told us, Jonathan, when you got Walmart and then you got Poppy, just give me like a roundabout. We're not going to hold you to it, or it's not going to find this point in our car. Like, what do you think a poppy around might cost

and a Walmart might cost in those examples you explained? Or, like, just a singular video? Yeah, like a singular user-generated video, UGC. Oh, the problem is I would never do just a single UGC video. So how would you do it? you structure you would i would package it so i would package it as like we'll do let's say five still carousels so you get our graphic designer we create carousels around photography so i actually do like a full photo shoot create these carousels introducing a new drop or whatever it might be it

will make five of those that probably have five photos per carousel then we'll do a few maybe meme or viral-ish related type videos as well that they can post on reels um And then, let's say, five versions of user-generated content. And this is where the package should kind of fumble around a little bit. So if you have five user-generated content package, you should kind of fumble around a little bit. So if you have five user-generated content videos, I can just make one version of each of them,

and then we're delivering to you, you do whatever you want. But if you want to push it as ads, each video could have six variations. So we'll put three hooks, three different hooks, two different call-to-actions per video. Those five videos turn into, what is that, 25 different videos now at that point. So the amount of videos is much bigger. The body is the same, but then the amount is so much bigger. So that package could be anywhere

from 20,000 to 40,000 plus, depending on the client. You know what I mean? It makes sense. So you're delivering them a bunch of assets that they can use on their social media, but you're not actually posting them. Are you actually, are you, when you do this work, are you in it or are you hiring an actor, actress, or a model, or is it always going to be Jonathan's in it

when you're doing this stuff? No, so previously before I went on the show, I was able to use my face and I could be in some of them. And I would pitch it that way because I was really good at speaking the camera and creating UGC myself. That's how I got started in it.

So I always offered myself up as a potential creator if that's what they had wanted, but now I don't have that luxury to offer that. And if I did, it would be significantly more expensive, obviously, right now for myself. But now it's a lot of just, like, sourcing talent for those different things. So we have a wide list of people we know. We have a lot of friends that are models and creators and all these different things that we can reach out to. It's fascinating.

It's like general contractors go into a home and build it and then outsource where they got outsource and make a spread on it. You're doing it with content. It's fascinating. When you do a deal like, let's call it $40,000. It's with Walmart. and you're hiring an actor or model or a friend to be in the video. What's like the average price point

it costs to get someone to be in one of the videos? Oh, just an answer to. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it kind of varies. If it's a professional versus a personal friend, like a personal friend, you can toss anywhere from $300 to $500 to make a video with versus professional.

I mean, depending on the company, if it's a Walmart, we could put it into the package where it's like, hey, this creator is worth, $5,000, $10,000, $15, $20, whatever it might be. If they're willing to pay it, then we'll make it happen. So it really just depends on the creator and the recognition behind their face. And usually once you're getting up to like the 5, 10, that's the influencer space.

And they're doing an influencer deal at that point, not necessarily just a creator, you know. Yeah. Okay. So if everyone's still with me here, it's fascinating. It's all over the place. No, it's great conversation. And I think just especially in this podcast, making it 101, you guys see creators and influencers out there and those people exist and they're using their faces to make content. Because content has moved at such a fast rate, companies at a lower price

point can get other companies to make content for them. And that is exactly what Jonathan's doing is one of his businesses. He is creating content and memes and different reels with other people that are in those pieces that are not recognizable, but then those companies can use those and they will get impressions and views. And if those videos pop off, they are going to get them at a much discounted rate, then to going to, let's say, the next bachelor, bachelorette. So it's a fascinating business model. It's one that we're seeing from the agency. It's growing in and out, day in and day out. Let me ask you about your personal brand. Obviously, your personal brand is taken off. Are you all of a sudden seeing deals flow in at an expedited rate right now? Or what does

your business look like for the Jonathan brand, not the business of you creating content for other businesses? Yeah. Yeah. It's yes, but it's kind of all over the place. And I'm not as much focused on brand deals at the moment. Obviously, I am looking ahead, but I do have an exclusivity period, you know, where I can't take on brand deals, where I'm involved in the network and the bachelor nation, and that is my sole focus for the three-month period that I have. But yeah, you know, brands are reaching out that are following on Instagram. They're seeing if I'm open to doing this or that or whatever it might be. And the money is obviously always tempting. They're like, hey, not only do you have a good following now, but you create great content.

Like, we would love you just to make videos in general, which is great inbound for the agency as well. Because any company that wants to work with me, but can't yet, can work with the agency. and I can create for them on that field as well. So it's really, really cool area right now. But I'm excited to start doing things myself because I would love to pitch a company on a singular video idea that I have where I can incorporate, like my personality

and have fun and just really go hand in hand. And at the core of who I am, sales is like my bread and butter. I can sit there and talk to somebody and just convince them to buy a pencil at the end of the day. I just love talking to people and I could figure out a way to have them just be like, you know what? Hell yeah, I'll try it out. So getting to do that on a mass scale where like I'm trying to convince millions of people to buy a singular product that I'm putting into a video, my mind explodes with excitement. Like I just want to sit down with like a Cheetos

followed me or like Tick-Tac. They followed me and like sit down with them and be like, hey, this is what I have. This is my audience and this is what I think I can do. And I think people would eat it up and just go in and create. And those are the things that I'm really get excited about sell me this pen a little wulfo wall street reference write your name that's the answer right yeah literally i'll say what's interesting is someone who you know runs an agency and owns an agency but still is just quote unquote talent myself right still to this day still to this day i will never ever ever ever take a client a call with a brand or an agency if it's my deal I believe strongly in the fact that when you're working in this world, there has to be a division

of kind of church and state. And you have to have the person that's negotiating for you and arguing the ands orors, the butts, the commas and periods in the contract, the timelines and all the rates, that has to be someone that's different than the individual that they're kind of putting on this pedestal is talent. But to be on the other side and work with agencies direct when it's deals that might not be for me or someone else, I always find it fascinating. There might be a world here, Jonathan, in which your agency and my agency could partner. Who knows? We might be on to something.

I'll tell you what, that would create some cool content. A question, though, I got for you is one of the biggest questions that is asked on Bachelor. Number one, are you here for the right reasons? And it's so rare we're now living in an era where we have someone and people that are already creating content. They already have a following. They already have the business. So is this a hurdle that you've had to overcome? And I'll tell you, if I ever had to go to the beaches of paradise, I would be like,

ah, shit, they're going to come at. I start an agency. I got this. I'm going to get beat down, like, right reasons, right? If those days ever existed, which I don't think those days will ever exist. But should be, it's something, of course, in the past I thought about. And I think about you going on the beaches, do you worry about that? And if you had any scrutiny of, are you here for the right reasons when this is your business?

You know, I did have a little fear of. it coming off of the show. You know, going into it, I didn't think about it, just genuine. I was going in for the right reason. I was like, you know, I went in with an open mind, and I was just like, I don't know what's going to come of this. I have no expectations. Again, like

how I said for Paradise, I was like, I'm not actively looking to get married. And I told them, I was like, I'm not actively looking for a wife right now. But am I always open to finding love? Hell, yeah. And I would be more than

excited to do that on a public scale and kind of let people go on that journey with me. And I did. And I think I put my heart and soul into it and I felt a little short. But coming off, I was like, wait, people may think because of social media being my job and me working with agency and different clients and things like this that like he's really trying to put on for his own brand. And I was like, I did worry about it a little bit. But then watching it back, you know, I asked my friends, my friends, I'll keep it very real. though like John, John, Jonathan. It doesn't really bad.

They call me John, but I go by Jonathan. Like, your genuineness came out throughout the show, and you can tell that you're not there putting on in front or persona. You're like, actually there for Jen. I don't think anybody's going to think that you went on there to promote your brand yourself. And there was no guessing that the success I'd had host show was even in the works.

You know, it's nobody expected for me to go, the distance that I did. It took, honestly, if you take accumulation of everything it happened, it took people messing up for me to have the success that I did. You couldn't plan that somebody was going to mess up super bad and genuinely make, like, I think I'm a good person, but make me look even better as a person

to have people stand behind and really promote and push me as that person. Like there was no expectation or planning of that to even happen. So I didn't know that the success. would come from it. It just so happened to follow my lap. I was just like, you know, I, I love making content as it is. And I love doing it before, even though I didn't have the following. I just loved making videos because it's what I do for work, but it's also because I just love it. And I think that's come across and I'm not selling people on things. I'm literally just making videos

messing around being a goof. And I think people, I think people know that I'm there for the right reasons and really just having fun with all the attention and everything that's going with it. A hundred percent. I mean, both things can coexist. You can be good on social. media have fun with it laugh be yourself and still go on a dating show and you know attempt to find love and continue in both professional and personal reasons i think i think that's great when when you look back at your season i feel like it was a very polarizing season in that though just a lot of happen a lot of opinions a lot of there's not much gray area on that season there's just you know and so i'm curious just like when you think and i always love to ask this question of people that

have been on the show when you think about some of your castmates or just the season in general, maybe even the three months. The overall sentiment, like what's, what's Jonathan's take on it? Just the whole season and care. Because it's interesting, like what we're talking about here is like it's really had a huge impact on your life. It still is having a huge impact. It sounds like it's going to continue to. And this intertwines. And it's the definition of like when financial, professional and personal worlds, they all collide. And I think looking at them in silos irregardless to what you're doing, is never the right play. And this has had such a big impact.

I'm curious, there's obviously been a lot of noise around it. Like, what's Jonathan's take on it? Again, I think, and this has developed over recent years, I've become a very empathetic person. You know, so I, myself, I don't think I had much hate. And I'm sure there was moments where I did. And I do my best to kind of ignore. I think I've a really good circle around me to keep me grounded and humble and away from that.

And that empathy side of me really just made me want to, like, stand up for almost everybody in the cast. Because I think the whole cast is catching a lot of shade for the mistakes of the few. If people are like, this season's men are not it or they're not this or they're not this or they're not that. And I think every season probably catches it. But for me, I just wanted to make sure that, like, all the guys were okay. And they felt as if, like, the ones that were there for the right reasons felt that they were being foretasted in the right ways. I don't know as far as, like, theme of it. I think it was definitely a messy season as far as some of the drama.

But overwhelming steam, I don't know if... I haven't seen enough seasons of the Bachelor and Bachelorette to really compare themes and say if it coincides of how it normally goes. I've only ever seen Joey's season and now mine and yeah, so I don't know. Yeah, I think the way I would look at that season or at least one word, maybe is what I already used like polarizing.

Like I think about our show like there was there wasn't just, there was like everyone kind of got along. There's always a villain and some people that made some dumb decisions. But in general, like it was pretty, everyone got along pretty good. Like no one was going at each other's throats after the show. I feel like there's a lot of people that are like kind of,

There's a lot of chirping. There's a lot of mess. There's a lot of, I mean, I'll tell you what, if we get some of these people in paradise, my God, is that going to be good TV? But I think in all situations, people kind of rise to the top, right? Like the cream of the crop always comes to the top. And I think that was a great opportunity for you to kind of do that. And you did do that, which I think is super, super exciting. I want to ask you about this is a question. I think I got to honestly, I got to be real with you. I don't know if I did ask Jen this or not. I do usually ask people this, though, from the show all seasons. If you go into a fantasy suite, I'm just curious, at any capacity, cameras are off.

I'm not going where you think. I'm going. Do you talk money? You talk career? Like, do you like, I might get engaged? You talk about those things? I don't remember if we really did. You know, it's definitely an important conversation to have, but I don't think it was too much of a concern for either of us.

So I think both of us are driven enough and have some of many things that we're looking forward to on our future that neither of us were like, oh, well, it's probably a problem. It was like, hey, she's still in school. She's doing her thing. I am in this entrepreneurial journey and just getting started. So it's like maybe I'm not exactly where I wanted to be. And I would gladly have told her this that like financially I'm not as set as I would like to be. But am I on my way there?

Am I driven? Am I working towards it? Yeah, 100%. And I think we both saw that from one another. So I don't think it was ever even a question or, like, a worry that we even brought up, to be honest. I think a majority of our conversations are really just getting to know each other off camera. You don't, you're not worried about, like, messing up and what you say. Or, like, if you say something that's cancelable on accident because you're just, like, breathing and relaxing or whatever it might.

I don't, I'm not saying that we're cancelable people, but, like, you know, I mean, you can say stupid things. and you can cuss and you can do whatever without feeling like somebody's over your shoulder. So I think we really just took that time to just get to know each other on a very real personal level, not so much discussing that side of things, which maybe she knew she'd send me home,

so it wasn't a concern of hers and be like, how are you doing them financially? Maybe she's like, you know, I'm just going to hang out and we'll have fun and that'll be that. Last question I got on anything Bachelorette related, but before, you know, I always think about hometowns,

I felt like I could kind of read my mom a little bit. I could kind of just quickly look in her eyes and she could tell me a story and that story felt like it probably wasn't me. Did you at all feel that like going into fantasy seats? Do you all think, like, baby, it's not me? Or were you pretty sure like this? I think this could be me.

I think coming out of fantasy fleets is when I realized that it wasn't going to be me. Okay. So we had this discussion of, like, distance. And I explained to her, like, the person I am at distance is not somebody I love and not because I'm a bad person by any means. It's because I can't, like quality time is my love language. And I can't give to you the love I want to give and receive the love that I want to receive from the distance. I can't be the man

that you deserve and that you expect from that far away. And on top of that, I'll try my best to, but then it'll take away from my real life, which I'll FaceTime you for three hours a night when it's like I should be sitting down probably working on some things that are pushing the needle from my career or hanging out with my friends that I still have in my life while I'm still young and it takes away from those things and at some point it'll wear me and it'll come out in different ways that it's and we had that that conversation which was really funny because she was like honestly I don't know how I feel about LA like I don't think I would move there to be honest and I was like, I kind of feel the same about Miami

because that's where she was at. Yeah. And then funny enough, now she's here in L.A. and she's telling me how much she loves it and that she would want to move here. And I'm like, hmm, that's weird. Convenient timing now, right? I love it.

I love it. Hey, you know, I always used to say the word like ping pong, but it's all good. You know, people can't stay in a situation where they always think one thing. It shows growth that times are changing and decisions are changing. So I think that's good.

You never know, maybe next fall we'll see Jonathan on Dancing with the Stars. Never say never. In reality TV, too, like you just never, you never know where it goes. I want to wrap with some money questions, though. Let's get to know a little bit of the relationship Jonathan has with money. Let's talk about financially your best habit. What would you say your best financial habit is? Best financial habit.

I make pretty much every meal at home. Wow. And, yeah, four meals a day, make all of them at home. and I'm very picky about spending my money. So if I don't love it, I don't buy it. Like, I don't buy things that I like. I buy things I love. I love it.

And I love to go shopping. Like, I love to just go around my big window shopper. But if it catches my eye, that's one of those things where it doesn't matter how much it is because I buy such few things that when I see it, I'd just like to buy it. But it's an okay habit because I don't just spend unnecessary money on random little things.

Yeah, I think it's a great habit, especially in a world today where we've seen so much overspending. Everyone's trying to keep up. And so I think that's a great habit to have. What would you say is your worst financial relationship? What is your first, worst financial habit you got? I buy coffee every day. Okay, where are you buying your coffee? I'm just curious. Starbucks. Or blue bottle. Love a blue bottle. Blue bottle, Starbucks. What's going to be your drink of choice? What are we going to happen? Literally just an ice, cold brew. I'm a good, low. calorie kind of guy, but I need that little fix. And it's just every time. You throw it in like

a little milk or anything like that? You're just going, I'm lactose intolerant. I keep as far away as possible. Yeah, that's probably my worst one. Yeah, I don't think I really have any bad financial habits other than that one. Okay, worst one. You win a million bucks today. I put a million dollars right into your checking account. It hits right now. You got to spend every dollar, 24 hours, where are you spending a million bucks? Do I get to be realistic and say that I'm hanging off my debts? You can do anything. I'm like student loans. All right, student loans, gone, probably a down payment on like a cool apartment in Hawaii. And then, oh, I probably get myself like my dream truck, get like a TRX or something. Ooh, I like it. I like it. See, this is part of manifesting right here. Let me ask you this one,

the answer can't be coffee. One thing you spend too much money on other than coffee, you know you spend too much money on it. And unless you go completely broke, you're going to keep spending that about being in kansas city boy i'm very picky about my meats and because i took every meal at home i will get really nice steaks nice cuts of salmon nice chicken like i want good organic grassbed chicken and free range like things like that because i can genuinely taste the quality and if i'm going to make every meal at home anyways to say the money i might as well splurge on having the best quality of those meets that I used. I like it. It's a good one. We learned a lesson from Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey when he moved to L.A. took a check and wrote it for $10 million.

And he wrote it to himself. And he used it as a power of manifestation to make that much in his career. Obviously, Jim Carrey, massive, massive actor, right? Big dollars, big things. You have an empty checkbook and you write that check to yourself right now, like a realistic check of like, you know what? I'm going to work my fucking ass off next couple of years. This is going to be it. How much you're writing it for? It's tough. Now you get 10 million stuck in my head. I want to be see, I don't want to say I want to be a little more realistic, but I also do. Depends if it's a couple of your time frame. My thing is, I don't need much. I don't spend a ton. Like if I've won $5 million tax list, I probably wouldn't even really like work anymore. I would just, I would

invest it. I would do really smart things with it. And then I would be set and I would live a very good life and I would just do the things that I love for the rest of my life. That being said, would love to be a little bit more comfortable. So, shoot at like 8 to 10 million. Let's go right in the middle. Let's go 9. Let's go 1 below Jim Carrey. Maybe I'm not Jim Carrey, but we'll go 1 million below.

Let's go with 9 million. I like it. He's going to write a check for 9 million bucks. That's going to be his manifestation. He is going to get there. You have, you know, you're out in L.A., you got a big dream. A lot of things going on. Do you have one big thing that you're like, this would be the ultimate?

dream like this is my goal five years what is it oh i actually i had this conversation with evan earlier because we actually spoke about you guys management company a little bit but i told him my dream dream job all time ever is if i was the host of an america's got talent like singing competitions are my guilty pleasure i've seen every episode every singer of every single singing competition you can think of. So if I got to be the host of a singing competition or I can sing country and like Frank Sinatra a little bit. Oh, I love Frank Sinatra a little bit.

But no, I love passionate people and I love building people up. So I think getting to kind of hang out on the sidelines and get people excited to go pursue their dream day of and do that every single day, I would wake up and I would be the happiest man alive. So getting the host a show like that where people are pursuing their passions would genuinely make me happier than I think anybody should be. I love it. Hosting, content creating, all the things.

Let's wrap with this, because I had a lot of people ask me about this. They're asking about location. They're asking about kids. They're asking about marriage. If you fast forward 10 years from now, let's just go 10 years. Then you picture that life, you know, we already know possibly a dream job. We know 10 million is a goal out there. What does it look like?

Like location-wise, married kids, if you could think about it, and manifest it. If you're so fortunate for all that to happen, what would it look like? Wow. That's crazy. In a perfect world, if I could live somewhere that had a lot of land, like a farm that was also by the beach, I would. Fortunately, that doesn't exist near large cities because I also love the city too. I would probably have to go with going back to San Diego. I love, love, love, love San Diego. I love the people there. I love the environment. I love how much there's to do. And I love that it's a, it's a driven city. There's a lot of young people pushing for more. And I love to be surrounded by that. So 10 years, San Diego,

probably living in La Jolla wife. I really just, I would love two kids. You know, I think it's a perfect manageable amount. Like I would love one boy, one girl, but I know I'm destined to be a girl dad. It's going to be two girls for me. I can just feel it. And just being a soccer dad of the year. Yeah, having having my own companies as well. Like I would love to have a clothing and a leisure company and then continue to help people in some facet. Obviously, if I was able to host a show and that's my way of helping people, I would love that. But if it's going around public speaking or having a company in which I can go to different environments and really build people up, that would be a trade country as well.

So some way of making money by also uplifting people and also having my own business in which I get to express my creative freedom and design clothes. And, yeah, I love it. I love it. Well, one thing we love doing on Trading Secrets is checkpoints with our guests. I have a feeling we will do a checkpoint with you to talk about what we talked about today and how it comes true down the road. Jonathan, thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. Every episode we wrap with a trading secret.

So something that a listener can't get from a professor or a tutorial on TikTok or YouTube video, they can only get from Jonathan, given your experience. It could be a money tip, life tip. It could be any of the above. What can you leave us with? Perfect. It came straight to mind because it has been my journey through and through. I quit my job about a year and a half ago.

And it was because I believed in myself and I believed in the love that I have for creating videos. I worked as a recruiter, as you mentioned. And I think the biggest thing anybody could do if they have something they want to do is do it. I don't care if it's in your free time. I don't get to do it on the weekends. whatever it might be. I took any opportunity and every opportunity it came my way to make

videos. I started doing it for fun. And if you go back into my TikTok, you scroll all the way down, which somebody's going to do now, you'll see absolutely terrible videos where I'm awkward talking to camera. I'm doing crazy transitions. I'm talking about things that aren't even me trying to just get good at it. But I just kept doing it and putting myself out there and just saying, screw it. I don't care what people think, whatever, making videos and them and getting better and meeting new people and saying yes to the different things until it got to a point where I was like, you know what, I believe in myself. I think I can close deals on my own and I started making videos for companies doing purely just UGC and I made enough to

pay my bills and you get by. And then it kind of grew into my best friend creating a creative agency and say, hey, I love what you do with the videos. I would like to come on, creative direct for all the short-term video and social videos that we make, jumping into that. And now having this opportunity in front of me to work with different brands and collab with really cool companies and do that. So what I would tell people is if you have a passion, you have something you want to try, don't let other things get your way. Just go for it, try it and practice. If it's making videos, making videos in your free time. Doesn't matter what it's about. Put yourself out there, get used to the feeling and just keep going, keep pushing, and get better every single day of it.

And I know that's pretty redundant. And it's like, yeah, we all know that. But like, seriously, you never know what could come from it. And it's going to be bad at first. It's going to be bad at first. And you have to be aware of that and be willing to grow. Because inevitably, if you put enough hours into something, you will become great at it. Yeah, I love it. And I think a trading secret I'm taking from you is like, things that you like and things

that you love, there's a way to find a business. Everyone heard here about your business and what you do and how you do it. There's a way to find a business. You said, I love making videos. You said it many times in this podcast. And so I think anyone that's out there, trading secret here from Jonathan, if you'd love something, there's definitely a business behind it. You just got to figure out how it fits into that. Jonathan, thank you so much for being on trading secrets. Where can everyone find

everything you have going on? Jigity John across all socials. I know. Cracks everybody up. J-I-G-G-G-I-T-Y on Instagram, TikTok, and then it's just Jonathan Johnson, my name on LinkedIn. I don't really have Twitter, but I should probably do that. You should. It's become like one of the most powerful business tools. So if we're speaking and stuff, get you on Twitter, get you put some stuff out there. but Jonathan go check them out jiggity Jonathan you're the man we really appreciate you coming on cool thanks so much for having me I appreciate it making that money making that money rain on me making that money money living that dream making that money money money money Thank you.