Trading Secrets - 21: Brand your F*#cking Ass Off” with the “Slutty Vegan” creator, Pinky Cole

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

Ask a former producer of “The Maury Show” how to brand your business and you may be surprised by the answer…go for the shock value. That is specifically what Pinky Cole did when she branded her restaurants the “Slutty Vegan”. Since doing so, she has had “virgins” aka Slutty Vegan new clients, wait in line up to 8 hours to get a meal! But it wasn’t all a sexy picture for Pinky as her first restaurant went bankrupt after a disastrous grease fire! She didn’t have insurance and lost every penny of the $1,000,000 that she had self funded. Listen to hear bounce back and brilliant branding story! For All Access Content - join our networking group for less than 30 cents a day! Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are hitting an industry we have not tackled yet, the restaurant and food industry with the restaurateur Pinky Cole. She is also the author of Brand Your Fucking Assess. off. God, I love that title. After losing her restaurant that she went all in in, she came back with a vengeance. Founder of popular restaurant now, slutty vegan, founded in Atlanta, she is making a mark on the world with food trucks, restaurants, and vegans all over the country. And we're

going to talk about it, but she just recently landed a shake shack burger collab dubbed the slutty shack. I mean, I get fired up just reading this intro. Pinky, thank you so much for being here today. We are excited to have you on. I'm excited to be here. Let's get into it. Let's get into it. So before we get in the business side of a slutty vegan and your story, which I just found fascinating and all the locations you have and kind of the recovery that you had after your first restaurant didn't work out, one thing we talk about on trading secrets

is like the power of branding and how it can make or break you and how it can accelerate your business significantly. So it's my understanding that you have lines out the doors at your spots. So walk me a little bit through how meticulous, thoughtful, and the strategy of coming up with this idea and this name called slutty vegans. Because we live in a world where there's a lot of sensitivity and right, the wrong thing might not land with people and it could make or break you. I'm curious how you did it. And for those who are listening that don't know, then Pinky Cole could tell us more. But when she has new customers, they're the virgins and repeat customers are the sluts. It's awesome. The names on her menu, go read them. We'll talk

on the recap. But tell me about that strategy as you guys are coming up and how effective it's bad. So it has been, first of all, it's been a roller coaster ride with this business, right? I started this thing in 2018 that was only supposed to be a ghost concept. In a matter of three years, I've been able to see a level of growth that you usually don't see in a small own business that is now growing at scale. So when I came up with the idea of sledding vegan, I was intentional about it, right? As a former television producer, I'm like, okay, I need to merge sex and food and do it the TV way, right? I love it. I used to be a producer on the Mori show.

Oh, shit. So you know all about that. I know about all of it. So the raunchiness, the raciness, thought-provoking conversations and just really making people pay attention to what you're selling. I learned that working in TV. So all I did is transfer that skill set that I learned from there and I infused it into slutty vegan. So I said, okay, if I call this Pinky's vegan, then I'm not going to get no lines. Nobody's coming to my restaurant. But if I call this slutty vegan, it's going to raise your eyebrow and make you want to ask questions. And I did that.

And I said, you know what? I have an opportunity here to take the branding to the next level. So when you look at the brand of Slutty Vegan, Slutty Vegan is not a restaurant. Sledy Vegan is a marketing company that offers an experience where you can get burgers, fries, and pies. And through all of that, we help to reimagine food. And that's the food that you used to love at the cookout and the family reunion. And even at home in your backyard with your family that you remember. So basically we're re-igniting that experience and getting people excited about that.

So when we talk about brand, we talk about my social media, which is one of the core elements that drives traffic to business, right? We do three things. We make people laugh. We make people proud and we give them information. and we do that in the racy's fronchiest way. But the branding is so authentic, Jason, down to the damn text messages where we text people and say,

hey, big head, I miss you, what you're doing, come see me. You don't rest and wrong does that, right? But we do it because we meet people where they are and we take this guerrilla branding to the next level, and that's part of the reason why slutty vegan, the brand has been so very successful. And I find it fascinating.

And what's really intriguing too is that this is also stemmed from being a producer on the Mori show like you had mentioned. So for anyone that is listening, like as a producer from one of those shows, are those similar techniques that you use with the brand like you're trying? Is that what a producer on a show like that is really trying to create instant shock, right, so that it gets locked in your mind? Is that kind of the strategy that you guys used on Mori that now is used in how you operate daily? Absolutely. So it's a shock factor, but then there's care factor. So I can't shock you and not make you care. I've gotten shocked you and then make you care. It's the psychology of the mind, right?

So if I'm shocking you with this provocative name, I have to double back and make you care about what I'm teaching or telling you. So, for example, when you think about slutty vegan, you hear the word one nice sand and menagerie tuat, right? But then now I have your attention. And while I have your attention, I'm telling you that you can be anything that you want to be, you want to be white, blue, black, yellow, I don't care. You want to be vegan, vegetarian, flexified.

turn, I don't care. But when you get to slutty vegan, now you have options and you can explore your palate and it doesn't have to be compromised by dead animal, right? And we do that so strategically because it locks people in. You know, as a kid growing up, and I don't know if you watch TV now or not, but like when you watch TV, if it doesn't captivate you, what are you going to do? You're going to change the channel. But if it captivates you, you're going to want to know more, you're going to want to learn more. It's going to be something that's going to dial you in. But once you dial that person in, that's when you're able to teach them. And I get to do that with Sledy vegan every day. And it works. And it's been working since 2018. I mean, it makes so much sense.

I feel like they need to take some of this, though, and apply it to, like, curriculums and stuff. You think about how many people are, like, so born in school. Now, I'm not thinking, like, call it slutty calculus, but, like, if you can make things entertaining at least take the background of it, things will stick better. And one thing I want to ask you about is pricing. So do you think with, you know, we talk a lot about branding and we've talked to BMW, we've had some, this co-founder, Netflix on. Do you think that having the ability to have such a strong brand allows you to also increase margins in the price point because people are doing less of like comparing apples to apples and they're willing to pay more for the overall experience and the feeling that they get

when they're there? Right. I totally agree. So when you come to Slutty Deacon, you don't pay for food, you pay for an experience, right? So it's like going into King's Dominion and adventure world, six flags. It feels like that. People are going to yell at you. They're going to scream with you. You're going to hear hip hop top 40 playing on the radio. Everybody's had a good time. So you're paying for a party. You're paying for the experience and you get to leave with the food. And then on the flip side of this, when we think about plant-based living and veganism, I jumped into this game at a very delicate, crucial time, which was a good time for the business because it was the cornerstone of now everybody putting vegan items on their

menu. So automatically when you think about a vegan, you think about healthier. You think about, oh, it's more expensive, right? So people already have an expectation that they got to pay more for health. Yep. Right? That they got to pay more for healthier food. So we don't necessarily have that problem. My price point, the average burger is $16. Right. And that comes with fries, burgers and fries. You go to Burger King of McDonald's, you can get a burger and fries for $1.50 or $1.99. But what we do differently is not only are we coupling the experience with the flavor, we are also letting you know that this is a healthier option, even if it begins with comfort food. And that gives people a level of security that makes them feel comfortable

in extending their hand with their money and say, hey, I'll support this business because I know that it's going to make me better, even if it means I'm eating a one-night's sandwich and some vegan bacon and some lettuce and tomato. That is the definition of eating with an experience. I love it. And that reminds me of like, I remember when beyond meat products came out and two patties were selling it like six bucks in the grocery store, bought those, looked into the company, looked into their financials. And I mean, that is one hell of a stock to own. So it looks like your timing was perfect. One thing I want to get into before your timing being perfect here was even before your restaurant, as a kid, you just had entrepreneur in your blood.

And I've heard the stories. I've listened to some of the podcasts where you would host high school parties and you'd be able to pull 4K a month. Or you would also, or a week, I'm sorry. And then you would also go to Burger King of McDonald's who just brought up and sell dollar menu items at 2X, which is just fantastic. We have a lot of entrepreneurs that listen to this podcast. And so you have done it successfully, literally from as simple as drive,

I've been up to McDonald's for a cheeseburger and flipping it 2X to as sophisticated as your business is today and we'll get into that. But overall, whether it's your 16-year-old self or yourself today with tons and tons of employees in a successful business, what do you think is like one piece of advice that every entrepreneur, whether it's a lemonade stand or a hundred employee business, should know? Oh, that's a good one. Always aim to be transformational. Never be transactional. Okay. You understand what I mean? When I say that, always aim to be transformational.

Who are you impacting? What message are you spreading? How intentional are you? Instead of, I give you this, you give me that. It's just an exchange of products. And I think when entrepreneurs really grasp that idea, then ultimately, the things that you desire in your business you will begin to get. And I learned this from my research and Jeff Bezos and a lot of other entrepreneurs

being completely obsessed with the customer experience, right? Being completely obsessed with a follow-up and making sure that the people who come to the restaurant comes back again or whatever business that you have. But transforming the mind of people that support you, right, and spend their dollars on you means so much more than making a transaction. Because transactions, yeah, it makes money in the short term,

but in the long term, you don't get a win. When you get your wins is if you can create a legacy around the thing that you're building and be intentional around that thing and be mission driven around that thing, those are the things that's going to expand your business. And I've learned that, which is why I do it every day. Like, I'm committed to the community. I'm committed to people. I'm committed to helping people, which is why I did my foundation because that piece feels good to me.

So when you think about the ethos of it all, like when you really focus on like the betterment of things around you and people, the money is going to come. And that is probably my secret formula that has worked for me all of my life, not just with bloody vegan, but through everything. That's the first one. And I got another one because people need to hear this. So entrepreneurs, turn your mind.

Let's go, lock it in. I'm locked in. Locked in. This is one of my favorite quotes. And I say this all at the time when I wake up in the morning. If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly bear. Right? Okay.

If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly bear. I think that a lot of entrepreneurs get afraid of their own power and their own capabilities. And when you think about growth, growth is scary as fuck, okay? Scaling is scary as hell, right? It's very scary. I'm doing it right now. But I'm going to still be a grizzly bear in all of those things and mustering up this strength to push through what it looks hard, when it feels hard, when you get nervous,

when you're not versed in certain conversations. But let's talk about it. entrepreneurs don't know everything about business, right? But still showing up every single day, even when you don't feel like showing up, those are the things that will propel you in your business. And that's whatever industry that you're in. So hopefully somebody wrote that down, put it in a new.

I'm right, picky. I'm writing that down in my brain. And as I'm writing that down on my brain, I'm going through the library of people that we've had on the show, like Gary V and some of the sharks from Shark Tank and, you know, Rob Deer Dick from MTV. And what's always interesting to me is hearing these successful people come on with their stories and draw similarities with where they say things that connect

and things that absolutely completely disagree with one another. And the only person that's given advice just like this, which I think is just brilliant, is Mark Lorry. He's a multi-billionaire and owns the Minnesota Timberwolves. And I said, how do you differentiate yourself? That's right. Pinky's a little sellie over there. The only two people. And his way of talking about it was like going to your sixth degree. And so I was like, give me an example. Like what exactly does that mean. He was like, if I tell you right now, can you ride a bike across the United States, like in 30 days? Can you get through it? I was like, no, I'm not in shape to do that. It was if I tell you, you're going to die if you don't do it. Are you going to do it? And I was

like, I would do it. Right. And his whole entire point was that every minute of every waking second, he lives his life and does things like it's the second. Like he has to do it or he's going to die. It reminds me of your quote, and I love that quote. You know, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly bear go all in now i want to go back to a time that you went all in and it didn't work out so i was reading about when you poured your life savings into your one restaurant and so my understanding is that there was a grease fire and i don't know all the specifics behind it but i'm curious if you took the same approach you've taken with slutty vegan that you did in that restaurant and just what lessons you learned from that business just turning upside down in one day and one catastrophic event

Oh, the biggest one is making sure I pay myself to my use text. So we just don't get garnish. If you want to talk technical. That's a good one, though. That's a good one. I learned so much, right? Like, I learned how to be an entrepreneur on Google and YouTube, if you know what I mean. Like researching and like learning those things and then ultimately learning everything

in the restaurant business, right, from experience. And I learned a lot working at it. And the universe is so good, Jason, because what the universe does for us is it really positions us to be able to withstand the things that come our way. But that story is already written, right? If it wasn't for my restaurant to go down from that grease fire, then I wouldn't have had the confidence to be able to do it again with sunny vegan. If it wasn't for my wages to be garnished after I lost a restaurant and, you know, was responsible for paying the sales and U-SSSS, I didn't know I still had to pay sales and U-SX if the business was closed, I didn't know that. ever taught me that, but it took for that to happen for me to make sure that I have the most important person in my life, which is my accountant. Yes. And my attorney, but it made me get

serious about those things because of what happened in my restaurant. And when I tell you, like, it was bad, right? I'm the person all in my life, everything that I've ever touched to turn to gold because I've always believed in myself so much that anything I want to do, I'm going to do it. So when that happened, I lost my card, that repo. right? I got evicted out of my apartment. I went broke. I lost the money that I had saved up and the money that I was making. I wasn't making any more income. How much do you put into the business at this point? In that first business? Yeah, the first one. Probably in total, maybe upwards to like a million, if you combine everything, it was open for like two years.

But what happened is, yeah, I didn't have a fire protection, fire insurance. So when it had the grease fire, I didn't get anything from it. So in New York at the time, my broker told me this, and I don't even know how true this was. She told me that it wasn't necessary to get fire insurance. It was optional. It wasn't mandatory. So I didn't get it. I didn't know. Sure. Yeah. So because I didn't get it, I learned a hard lesson, but it was a very hard, valuable, expensive lesson that I was able to take a slutty vegan. So the point that I'm trying to make is, yes, there were so many ebbs and flows in that business. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was just working 12 hours a day in a business.

But it really gave me, that was like the Harvard University of restaurants, like being in it, being in the trenches, losing it all. And now I get to get it all back with slutty vegan. So like I wouldn't trade that experience for the world and for the entrepreneurs that are listening to this. If you do come across speed bumps, right, tribulations in your business, like look at them as opportunities to be able to regrow, rebrand, rebuild. because I was able to regrow, rebrand, rebuild, Sleady vegan, all because of the experiences that I had at that first restaurant. Yeah, I mean, it's literally the pure definition of a restart. There are so many takeaways from that.

And I would say those lessons are, in my opinion, just way greater than you can ever learn in a textbook at Harvard. That's for damn sure. Especially when you think about just like the tax and legal struggles that you're just, you know, in insurance that aren't top of mind when you're just beginning. You're trying to keep your costs minimally down. you can, you know, survive as opposed to deal with some of that. And it's just, it's interesting to see how that works because what's fascinating is you always, people will read about grease

fires or issues in restaurants. And like a little trading secret here, I've heard through the grapevine is people sometimes will intentionally do that because they can cash in so severely on the insurance. It's rare. It is so rare for you listening that someone that doesn't have the insurance and they're just working their ass off and that happens and they literally have to hit rock bottom. So you put a million dollars into this and then you have to hit restart.

Where do you even hit restart as far as like the financial struggles of saying like, okay, million bucks is gone? Where do I start tomorrow? Is it funding? Is it just getting back to the grind? What were some of those first steps you took?

Well, the first step, fortunately for me, I had already been in TV. So I left a morning show. I was working on a show call for maternity court. And then I got a call from a show called, I don't know if it's my life on the own network. And they asked me if I wanted to come on as a supervising producer.

So at this time, I didn't have anything to lose. I'm like, yeah, I'll go. So they relocated me to California where this was my second time around living in L.A. And I started working. And at the time, I was making a decent amount of money for just having to rebuild. So I had somebody's dream job after, like, I lost my dream career, which was the restaurant.

and now I had somebody's dream job again. So I was able to save that money, right, and deposited into this new thing called Sleddy Vegan, not knowing where it would go, right? So I was still working on the show, and I was still in creating this new business. I didn't even tell people that I own Sleddy Vegan because I didn't want people to doubt me

because of what happened before. I'm just like, I'm just going to do this, and you're just going to see it grow. And I did that. And tremendously, when I tell you, there has been so much growth in this business and I funded it all of myself. You funded it all.

Yeah, my paycheck, I paid for a friend of mine who's now actually my number two in the company. It was one week payroll was a little tough in the very beginning in 2018 and he helped me out but otherwise literally every single dime I put in this business my blood and my sweat and my tears standing on my feet all day like driving a food truck as a woman at the time

as a 30 year old woman driving a food truck. by myself, loading a truck with two or three other people working a truck and then going to work and doing the same thing again the next day. So that rebuild while it was hard, it was so worth it. And even for the people, because, you know, I realize now, Jason, that a lot of the people who listen to me are people who still work nine to five. Sure. Right. These are people who are big dreamers that want to create their own businesses but just really don't know how to. to do the first step. And I'm a witness that you can literally be both. Was I the best at both at the same time? No, but you can literally do both as long as you put your strategy in place.

And I had my strategy in place. It wasn't necessarily written down, but it was in my heart and in my head. And literally everything went up from the end. That is so cool. And I think there's so many things you hit on there, but there's 168 hours in a week. I say this often. And you can manage a full-time job and start to bridge the gap and invest into what could be your, your long-term dream and your long-term play. Picky, one thing we talk about, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask, and you don't have to answer this

if you don't feel comfortable. One thing I was talk about is that we have things like different janky websites and stuff to learn what people can make in different industries. And the reason that as employees were like not supposed to know what people make is because it actually just behooves the people at the top to increase their overall incentive

and probably money's back into the stock and their stock auction. So one thing I say is like, everyone, tell people what they make in their industries and we can learn. And so I'm curious as a producer in L.A., something like that, and for anybody that is out there, making, whatever it is, that amount that you could do it. How much at this time around are you making while still working on the side business? So I was making $5,000 a week.

Okay. So it's doable, right? I mean, this is very doable people. Listen, the television industry is one of the highest-paid industries. Obviously, it's not consistent work, but when you do work, you can get paid? So I was, again, I told you, you know, that was my dream job. That was somebody's dream to be in that position. But I had my own dream job that I was working on and I was supposed to be vegan.

You know, but if you are in that industry at that level, that's, you know, that's close to being an executive producer. You know, you make that kind of money. And especially if you're good, right, like I got a mouthpiece. I like to run my mouth. So if you know how to create stories and bring people together through storytelling, then, you know, that pay goes up, just like in any industry. You are a lot of things, but one of the things that you are

as a podcaster, you've got the number one show right now, right? Because you are good at what you do. So the better you are at what you do, the more you will be incentivized and compensated, especially if you're working for somebody else. And if you have business, right? So, like, I have slutty vegan. I believe that I'm good at what I do.

You know, there's room for improvement, right? But I'm good at what I do. And because I'm good at what I do, I think that you see it in the business. People talk about the business. you see the revenue of the business. You see people, the employee rate growing and people wanting to work for the company. So it just goes in every single industry.

Yeah. And one thing that's so impressive, I think, is your story, your messaging. I feel like your message is like tattooed into my brain. And the reason I think about this is because, you know, we do podcasts every week, nonstop. And like it was like two weeks ago, we had the schedule. And I had to push it back. And then I think you might have to reschedule once.

And I still, the whole time, I'd like refer to it about, oh, we got to slutty vegan, right? We got ShakeShack. It's these messages that I read for five minutes, like three weeks ago, obviously prepared in depth for this now, that it's stuck and it's brained in your story is there. I love the way that, like, you tattoo your story and it's something that like is stuck in there. It's really cool. And that is led to your trajectory now, being in a collaboration with one of a great stock, by the way, Shake Shack, but one of the biggest burger joints in literally America. So tell everyone a little bit about what your collaboration is with Shake Shack. And then I'm curious, we'll get into it like

specifically how did you even land something like that? So first of all, God is good. I love that. Whatever God do you believe in is good. But first of all, shout to Randy, Drudy. He's a mentor to me and a good friend. He's a CEO of ShakeShack. It was just an amazing opportunity to be able to partner

because he's so down the earth and so raw and so cool. So he had an idea on like doing this chef-inspired partnership where we take our special ingredients and they are, special ingredients, marry them together, and create this thing called the slut check, right? And the slut check is their vegan patty with our toppings and our sauce. And so far, we've done two activations. And when I tell you, it was amazing. We sold out in a first hour and a half at the first one, and two hours in the second one. And what that just goes to show you is that slutty vegan is in Atlanta, but we have a national footprint, right? And that national

footprint transcends any brick and mortar that you'll ever find in Atlanta when you think about when you begin. But I'm going to tell you why that was perfect. And to the entrepreneurs, why it's necessary to partner with the right people. Because what that did is it exposed me to a new audience, right? So my audience is 97% meat eaters, now getting more diverse. But to start, it was more African-American base. But now getting more diverse. We got people coming from all walks of life. What that shake-shed exposure did for the brand, It's made it more universal for all people, right? And that felt really good because bloody vegan doesn't have our face, right?

We bring people together for food. Like, I don't care what you look like. Sure. And Shake Check help us to do that. So shout out to Shake Check for doing that. And to really be able to expand that plant-based lifestyle, right? You know, they don't really sell vegan options. I think they have, like, one thing on the menu.

So to be able to do this activation, and it was a really good partnership, just shows that, that one, we're progressing in the restaurant industry by exposing more people to the vegan lifestyle and too slightly vegan is going away. Let's go. I love it. It's firing me up. I mean, the one thing, too, is I also read that you haven't paid a dime in advertising. And one, is that true or false? Because the amount of money a brand would pay to be aligned with ShakeShack,

again, for any entrepreneurs out there, that is such scrappy work right there, getting aligned with one of the biggest companies out there to get your name out there not paying a dime. Is that true? You haven't paid one penny in marketing? Not a dime. Let me tell you. Let me tell you something. I'm so authentic in my approach that it has to feel organic and authentic. I don't want it to feel paid for. Will I ever use advertising in the future? Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. But right now for the last three years of this business, everything has been grassroots. Everything has been organic. Celebrities, we've had almost every celebrity you can think of coming East Luddy vegan. They naturally endorse

to bring. We ain't got the bag, we ain't asking nobody. They want to eat the food and they believe in the mission because, again, it's bigger than food. So when it's bigger than food, it's bigger than a thing that you're offering, you don't have to really pay for it, right? And because I'm a storyteller, people are buying hope, right? They're not buying food. The idea is the hope and the experience, they experience that when you come, you'll have a great experience. And the hope is that you can be anything that you want to be as long as you put your mind to it and that you believe in yourself enough to know that you can conquer it all. And I think that that is my ongoing message to the world. And as a result of that,

that makes people feel good. And when people feel good, they'll support you. You can be falling off the ledge. They're going to support you and falling off the ledge and catching you at the bottom. You understand what I'm saying? I understand it completely. Because of that, we've never ever had to pay for it. And I like to keep it that way. God willing, we'll be able to continue this business and create this new blueprint that you ain't got to pay for, right? You can do it authentically and have a word of mouth business and work through social media and the free platforms to get your messaging out there. And again, who knows? I may use it in the future. Who knows? I don't know. But right now I didn't have to and it's a blessing. Yeah. And I want to just put dollars and

sense to this. The names that she's talking about, especially with shake sheds, some of these celebrities, people will pay hundreds of thousands and millions and millions of dollars to get them to throw these tags out, to throw these endorsements out. And I think it goes back to your point, Pinky, when you think with your blueprint and your business plan as transformational, not transactional, those are like the things that will come to fruition from that. Piggy, this has been amazing. So what we're going to do, those, because I know you have a very busy schedule, and we have you for just a short period of time.

We're going to crack into the vault. I have four quick, rapid fire questions, and then we need to end. You've given us a lot of secrets, but I need your one trading secret. One that someone can't find in a Harvard textbook, like you mentioned, or Google, something that could be about money management or professional management. But before we do that, we'll quickly crack into the vault with rapid fire questions if you're good with that. Sure. Okay.

What is the longest line? Because I've read some articles out there doing my research. There's been a lot of cute times that someone would wait for a slutty vegan meal. What is the longest wait time you've ever heard? And this is a testament to you, not a testament to your operations. But what is the longest time you've ever heard someone has waited for food at slutty vegan? Eight hours. Holy shit.

Eight hours. Eight hours. And it was, it was my first, that's happened a couple times between like five to eight hours, but it was my grand opening of my first brick and mortar, 650 square feet. People came and stood in line with lawn chairs, computers, we, and they happily waited for eight hours. That is, bad. Bad. That's all right. That is. Holy shit. All right. Keep it going. So someone does wait hours. They get that, that menu. What is your? your favorite menu item on the slutty vegan menu? The sloppy toppy, because I like it sloppy, number one. And number two, it has jalapeno's on it, and I like spicy food. The sloppy top is really, really good. The most popular is the one I stand, and that comes with our bacon, lettuce, tomato, and special sauce, and that's really, really good.

But I need a little kick. I'm spicy, so I like spice. I like that. Sloppy and spicy. Now we're talking. That's Pinky Cole at the core, baby. All right, so what is one thing that you give me like a sentence? or a short pitch

is to why someone should consider becoming vegan. Being vegan is like brushing your teeth. You wake up and you brush your teeth every single day, right? It's a part of who you are. You're internalizing. You don't leave out the house. Some people leave out the house about brushing their teeth.

But most of us don't leave out the house unless they brush their teeth. Right. And we've learned that. It's a learned behavior. That's what veganism is. When you think about it practically, right? If you really want to be vegan

and eat better and live better, even if it starts at comfort food. All you got to do is change your behavior, right? Wake up in the morning and change your mindset that will ultimately change your behavior. And when you change your behavior, you start making better decisions. And one of those decisions could be eating better

and eating vegan and starting to eliminate the things that aren't good for you. I'm starting to eliminate the pork, the turkey, the meat, the beef, and all that stuff. And then ultimately fish and cheese. And then you'll be right on where you need to be. But it's not hard. It's all about your mindset and changing your mindset.

to do the things that, you know, that your body needs you to do. And changing the mindset can go for a vegan nutrition or even just the way you're managing your life, your business, your money. Relationships for money, for moving people, for anything. Anything. All right, we got two more. We're getting into your trading secret. Two more are I have heard, I've had a lot of questions. Being a guy from the bachelor, fiancé is the host of the bachelorette.

I get every question. One of the big thing is it's scripted. Is it real? You were a producer on the Morris show. Now, I got to ask you this. Are there actors on that show? Nope. No actors.

Shout out to Mori. Do you know if we brought a fake story, you could potentially get fired. Wow. So those are all real stories, too? Everything is real. It's real. But you got to get paid to go on the show, right? No.

Nobody got paid to go on the show. Obviously, probably I don't get in trouble for saying this, but like per diems to travel, but nobody gets a check to appear on the show. I think it just makes it more real. Yeah, that's one of the reasons I really loved working on the show because as crazy as it looked, it was real. And I got to be able to touch and inspire people from around the world. I'm talking about the richest of folk, to the poorest of folk,

to the people who just love the show and a diehard fan. I got to touch people and see people from around the world. And it's helped me in my business. So it's totally 100% real. Don't let anybody tell you don't do it. Your resume. Your resume is one of the coolest things in the world. I love to know that I could sleep at night knowing that wasn't bullshit.

That is real stories on, Maury. All right. So that is all we have for Crack and Open the Vault with you. Before we end up, wrap up here, Pinky, we need one trading secret, one you can't find in a textbook or learn in a classroom about money management or career navigation. What can you leave us with? So I'm going to tell you one, it's so non-traditional. So obviously, everybody comes here and tell you what to do, make sure you're great it is, right?

You just send to that and all the stuff that we do anyway, right? All the boring stuff, yeah. All the boring stuff I already do, right? It's necessary for the long-term growth. of my business and my legacy and my family and generation wealth, all that good stuff. But I'm going to tell you a hood secret. That's here.

Give me the hood secret. I can't wait. Keep money underneath of the bed. Oh. So I have this thing. I have a jar of money. And in that jar of money, all of my lose change I just put in there, right? And I don't do it because I'm trying to save money

just to be able to use it one day. It keeps me humble. It keeps me humble because it's a constant reminder every time I see it, that, like, never get too big-headed, right? Like, never feel like you are more than the person next to you. Because just like you got it all, it can always be taken away. So I always put my loose change, pennies dollars. I always put loose change in it.

So it's a funny joke that I have running with myself that at least I'll never be broke. I got something for a rainy day. It keeps me humble. So that is my trading secret that keeps the humility going in my life as I continue to scale this business. And it might sound crazy. I know y'all expected me to give y'all life. like some Merrill Lynch disc advice. And I know you hear that all the time on this show.

It just keeps money under the bed because it'll keep you humble. I like that. And that was the second time your story or at least your storytelling is giving me goosebumps because it brought me right back to when I was like five years old. And I had this little brink, little security like lock thing. And I would put my allowance in there, two bucks. And it does bring you back to those days. Like never forget about those days because, you know, you just never know.

I like that. I like that a lot. and it's unconventional and it's the good one. Pinky Cole, if people want to go see you at Sleddy Vegan or find you on your social or buy your badass branding book, tell everyone where they can do all of that. So you can follow me, and I never do this enough on my personal page, it's Pinky 907. Again, that's Pinky 907. If you are interested in Sledy Vegan and all that comes with it, go to our website,

www. www.sluttyveganatel.com. or you can go to Sleddy Vegan ATL and all social media handles. I also have a foundation that we do a lot of givebacks in the community. You can go to Pinky GivesBack.com to learn how you can donate or partner with us. And then I also have a bar that I just opened called Bar Vegan ATL in Pondt City Market in Atlanta. Very popular, one of the hottest spots in the city. And you can go to Bar Vegan ATL and learn more about us. But just Google me.

I'm here. I ain't going nowhere. I'm here. Electric energy, Finky. next time I'm in Atlanta, I'm definitely making a stop. I'm intrigued. So many lessons can be taken away from this 35 minutes and the impact you could have on entrepreneurs that have fallen on their face or they're just starting is literally endless. So thank you so much for your time. Your story is fascinating and we really appreciate it. Talk to you. good to save the Curious Canadian being here in Canada. We just had pinky col on talking all about the slutty vegan. That was unreal. And I'll tell you what, if you listen to that and you're like, damn, I wish I was there. You could be there. Emails. Restart at jason tardick.com or go to jason tarduk.com

and you could be part of our business networking group in which we have a wide array of things, like a day trader every day telling you what to buy and look for. And also you could be there live on every podcast. So that being said, let's get into the ringing bell with the one and only David Arnawood. David, give me your hot take on the episode

with Pinky Freaking Cole. Well, my hot take is that I know this is trading secrets, but I feel like I'm unpunked because I can't believe Moore is real. Of all the things that she talked about, Mori is real.

They're not actors on the show. It's a real thing. I'm blown away by that. I'm also blown away that she was making 5K a week as a producer. around the show. I'm also blown away that when most people would have quit, when a restaurant

burned down, she now turned it into a thriving, thriving restaurants, thriving enterprise. She's in Shake Jack. And I'm shocked that you're in my home country. I'm a little jealous. There's a lot to unpack right there. I mean, you talk about the rock bottom to restart, the Mori stuff's

insane. And what's funny is, like, David helps me with the pre-production notes. And he even wrote to me. He's like, so when she tells you their actors, ask him how much they're paying. And then she didn't say, like, no, they're real. I'm like, oh, shit, what are they paid? But back to Canada.

So I am here in Canada this week. We are celebrating Caitlin's dad's 70th birthday. So, as you know, there's been a lot of issues with borders. But thankfully, there is an opportunity to get here. And it's good to be back with Caitlin's family. She hasn't seen her family in over two years. And obviously, that goes the same for me. So what was the last time you were back in Canada?

2018. Wow. Isn't that disgusting? I mean, wow. Where are you going to go back? Next July, July 2020 for a Canadian absolute celebration of a century. Oh, my God. But between visa issues and getting our green card and something that you and KB will go through very soon, which I'll be your main plane person from, there's a lot of times you can't cross the border where your status is impending for visas and green cards.

So you just got to wait for them to go through. and then once they're good, they're good, but timing just hasn't been on my side. Unbelievable. So I have a question with that. Like when we get married, do I have issues crossing the border too? Or is it just her?

It's just her. It's just her. So she's obviously in a work visa now? Yeah. Yeah. So you're going to petition for her to sponsor her to come into the country as a permanent resident,

and then she's going to apply for a change of status from whatever visa she's on to being a permanent resident. So I'm your guy. trust me. I'm your guy. I got you on this.

Now I'm getting stressed thinking about it. You're my guy for all things, business and info. And there's, you know, I'm starting to get the hang of this podcast thing. I feel like I'm involved in a lot of these conversations. I feel like I know what they're talking about. And I feel like I'm getting smarter. But there's still one thing that she mentioned that I didn't know. And she said the biggest thing she learned from losing everything was to pay her sales and

her use tax. Yes. And I didn't. And I don't know what use, I know obviously know what sales tax is, but I've never heard of use tax. What's use tax? Yeah. So sales tax, as you know, every single state has different sales tax, right?

It's the amount that you pay when you buy a good or service or gift or toy or furniture or whatever it might be. And obviously that company has a duty to send that monies in on your behalf and their behalf, right? So that's the sales tax. Use tax is going to be sales tax on purchases, right? Now, stay with me here, that are made outside of one state of residence for taxable items, okay? So let's do an example, right? So let's say David lives in New York.

You buy stuff, you buy a sweater in New York, you have to pay your sales tax on it, right? Now, if you live in New York and you buy it from an online hoodie from a, let's say, a retailer in, I don't know, pick a state. New Mexico. Okay, New Mexico. Then under specific New Mexico law, there might be a situation in which that retailer did not collect sales tax on goods, but the retailer might have to still pay use tax on that clothing that was purchased to New York.

What happens if you don't pay such tax? She obviously learned a lesson from it. Right, exactly. Then what happens is they come knocking on your door. they keep record of everything i will give you an example i purchased katelyn's ring when i was in california oh wow okay ring came sent to california guess who came knocking on my door this year for a nice fat fucking tax bill california hey so you were in california when you received that ring we know the value of what that ring was come pay us motherfucker and they freaking

Got me. So anyway, I had to pay for that. And that's what it is. And she said the word wages garnished. And so what happens then is like when you owe a debt like that to the IRS, what do they do? They pretty much take a hold on any type of wages you have coming in and they pay themselves back with the money that they're owed from the wages you're received. So it can be an absolute nightmare. Who would ever want to work for the IRS? Let me just put that out there. It seems like the saddest job ever. You just make people's lives miserable. I mean, I'm sure that I bet you would they pay. decent. I bet you the medicines are great. So shit. But yeah. And someone and someone's got to get it. Do you remember WWE there was a wrestler of the IRS? Yes, of course. Yeah. Guy was like the big it's like the dick with the glasses and the suit. This is the best. Good old days. Yeah. Okay. So something else we got to talk about. Okay. Sluddy vegan. Yeah. Have you ever gone vegan? You ever tried it? Thought about it. I'll tell you this much. Every vegan I know is glowing. My brother's vegan. Billy's vegan. Okay. Little purple. Ryan's Secret. Chris is vegan, they glow.

Their skin glows. They look younger. They have higher energy. They swear by it. Pinky Cole, she fucking glows. All these people that are vegan glow. So I haven't done it, but I kind of like want to. Is this one of those things that we say we're going to do, but then we don't do?

Yeah. Should we add it to the list? I think we have to. I mean, I'm growing my hair out in October, so like, let's get crazy here. Okay. Listen, let's do this. So this airs out Monday. Okay, this airs Monday.

Let's commit next week. Can you do it in Canada though? Monday? Yes, I can. Yes, I can. Actually, Canada's probably the best place to do it. Everyone's vegan. Yeah, Monday to Friday.

Five days, David, that is it. Monday to Friday. We go vegan. We recap about it next week. I mean, doing it. I'm reminding you too. Evan, hold us accountable. We're holding each other accountable.

Evan, you're going to text us and keep us real, okay? So I'm going to have to... Evan gave us a thumbs up. So I'm going to have to load up on Beyond, meat, right? Beyond meat, which? And you mentioned the beyond meat stock. You all sure did. Do you know the ticker on that? Is it buy or sell? Like, am I going to get rich while going vegan here? What are we doing? There we go. We're going vegan. B-Y-N-D. B-Y-N-D. I love it. It's at $106.32. It's got a market cap around $7 billion. And I love their cash position.

They have strong liquidity. It's a company that's growing fast. Net income is negative, but that's the means of the way they grow. And I honestly think it is the food of the future. So for me, I want to be invested in the food of the future. And also keep an eye on Impossible. I think Impossible is going to go public too. So that's my take on Beyond. Isn't there a Netflix stock out there?

Isn't Netflip? I never tried any beyond anything. I might just go on vegan and live off Impossible Whoppers. No cheese. I think that's like the junk food for veg. Well, slutty vegans like junk food too. That's what she says. It's like soul food.

I might just open up a slutty vegan 2.0 in Rochester. Okay. Might have to. One thing she talked about that was a huge takeaway that kind of blew me away was that she had no fire insurance. Yeah. She had a million dollars invested, no fire insurance, and she lost her first restaurant to grease fire.

Have you ever had any life lesson that's happened to you and you just made sure that after the fact you would never, never, never, ever let that happen again? You need to have everything insured. insurance has saved my ass so many times David insurance has saved my ass with the dogs they have had procedures that have gone in the 3,000 range right in a little Tuesday afternoon they're not fit they keep throwing up they keep throwing up they can't move

they're dehydrated you got to go in you get the x-rays you get this I mean 3K I've had a situation in Rochester where my car was completely you remember this completely stolen stripped to the fucking bone there was only metal left I had about $5,000 of stuff in that because I was getting ready to move all gone Insurance, you know, to the police report and everything else, but insurance wrote me a check. I actually made money on that deal.

Insurance paid me more that I think that, like, my car was probably going to be traded in at the lock. So that was good. And then right here, right now, David, we have leaks all over the house. So I don't know if it's raining. There's been issues with our AC unit and some of the piping, and our ceiling is completely soaked. Our floors are soaked. If you're talking 25K easy and damage. And guess what? Home insurance picks that up.

So whether it's home insurance, your business insurance, your pet insurance, like shit like that can literally save your life. She might have actually got all of her money plus some back if she had the right insurance. Wild. And what I said is right. Like insurance fraud is fucked up. You go to jail for it. And it happens all the time.

You see so many like grease fires and restaurants. And it's a fagazi. It's like then being able, they're not being able to perform at the right they want. and they get a big check. This poor girl lost everything. And like she said, it was a learning lesson. It put her on a trajectory that's like just next level. That's a good PSA for everybody out there.

Yeah. Insurance, home insurance, car insurance. My golf clubs got stolen out of the back of my truck once. What did you do? And they recovered under home insurance. See? It's huge. Fun fact.

I got an nicer set of clubs too. Another fun fact. Your credit card sometimes has insurance if you rent a car, so never get the rental insurance on that car. That's a pro tip. That's true. I've actually used that before. There you go. There you go.

That's a pro tip. But no, I mean, she's crushing it now. So, you know, the million dollars back then must have thought like it was something she could never overcome. But, you know, when you said we were having pinky coal on and then she can't, I didn't know who she was. And I did a little research with you. And I was so excited for the pod.

I thought you guys crushed it. She's such a ball of energy. She's so successful. And she's just one of those people that you listen to that makes you think that you can do it too. So I thought she was great. I gave her so much credit because honestly, I don't know. Like, I think about what it is taken to make, to like save and really have some solid liquidity.

And if I lost a million dollars, I don't know that I could just like bounce back and go back to the Mori show. By the way, quick break right there, timeout. Producers on the Mori show make 5K a week. What? Yeah, I just emailed you my two weeks. I'm going to the Mori show. I feel like you would be a killer producer. I would love it.

What a bachelor? I would have a bachelor. producers made. Mory's got to be one of the longest running shows on TV, period. For sure. And I remember like Bachelor producers or whatever, I feel like I've heard through the grapevine, they would be excited when another season happens. And I never like asked questions or anything. I'm assuming, though, that means that if they got hired out, they only get paid for the season to run. Do you think the Bachelor treats the Mari show as like their farm team, just like a pro sports team? Like it's like the basher just

Badger just recruits producers from the Mari show because they're like dialed in with drama and reactions and like how to shut things up. Wait, it's got to be. And wait, you think that you're pretty much convinced that Mori people are actors. Like Jerry Springer, you think they're all actors?

Again, if they're not like I will be more shocked than anything. I'm shocked You saw the video, right? I mean, if you're reading like I don't, she seemed like she was completely honest right there. Oh yeah. She even said I hope I don't get in trouble for saying that they don't get, like, they don't get paid because it's real. I can't believe they don't get paid.

I thought it was, like, sprinkled one real nine fake, like, try and keep some legitimacy. But, I mean, if Jerry Springer or what I guess now is called the Steve Wilk, Hulk show. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bodyguard, like, took it over. Didn't know. Wait, really. Yeah, and now Jerry's a judge, Judge Jerry. Judge Jerry?

What the fuck? Jerry, wait, what? Jerry Springer's a judge? Jerry Springer is, like, the new Judge Judy. What? Yeah. I mean, I would be Judge Judy. knowing her success. That's a whole other podcast. We should get Judge Judy on. Wow.

Judge Judy, the hundred million there plus. Especially with all this crime. We've talked about this, the crime series. Dude, I want to get, we're going to get the money between crime. We're going to get a money launderer on. I want someone tax invasion. I want someone that got committed for tax fraud. And I want Judge Judy. I do not want Jerry Springer. But I'm surprised about to hear that Mori, all those are real shows. And you would know it because SAG, the union, SAG Actra, they would have had to pay these people monies. And the fact that they're not paid tells me they're not actors. And that just blew our fucking minds. Learn something new every day. Mori's show, Slutty Vian, A to Z, everything in between. I think we covered

it all. David, do we miss anything? No. Absolutely not. We got to run there. If you liked this podcast, please subscribe. Give the boys. five stars. Let us know what's happening in the comments. Give us a tag. We got a lot going on. It has been exciting. If you want to join the restart all access group, come join at restart at jason tarik.com. Just shoot us and email. And I think, you know what, I actually got one last thing. The one last thing is also if you want to text, David and I, you can shoot us a text. And we will respond to you. That's 716, 215, 2637. So give us. five-star review, subscribe. Shoot us at Tech 716-215-2637. And we will be back next week with another

episode you can't afford to miss. I got to tell you, the podcasts are stacking up. We just recently interviewed a multi-billionaire, and we have so many more to come. So thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets. One, hopefully, you couldn't afford to miss. Making that money and money, living that dream. Making that money, money, money, pay on me. Making that money and money, living that dream.