Trading Secrets - 227. Rebecca Minkoff: From globally recognized fashion designer and entrepreneur to Real Housewives of New York, the incredible BTS of her multi-million dollar business, reality TV, and the $$$ behind it!

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

This week, Jason is joined by an absolutely powerhouse in the fashion business and now reality TV world, Rebecca Minkoff! Rebecca Minkoff is a renowned fashion designer, entrepreneur, and author who co-founded the Rebecca Minkoff brand in 2005 with her brother, Uri Minkoff. What started with an "I Love New York" shirt has since grown into a multi-million dollar empire, known for its handbags, ready-to-wear collections, footwear, and accessories. Continuously adapting to changing trends, Rebecca has expanded into fragrance and sustainable fashion. Recently, she joined The Real Housewives of New York, offering fans an inside look into her personal life and the challenges of growing a business while balancing family and fame. Rebecca discusses the realities of her RHONY experience, including how the show differed from her expectations, its impact on her brand, and the emotional toll of the drama. She shares insights on navigating business challenges like tariffs and the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her strategic moves to ensure longevity. Additionally, she reveals the complexities of selling her company, shifting away from influencer-driven promotions, and empowering women through her book Fearless: The New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success. With candid advice on working with family, investments, and the evolving job market, Rebecca's journey highlights both the rewards and challenges of entrepreneurship in the modern world. Rebecca reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss! Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: John Gurney Guest: Rebecca Minkoff 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! Tonal: It can feel like there's not enough hours in the day to do everything you need to get done. With Tonal - you can ensure you're checking "workout" off your to-do list with the convenience of having an at-home gym, 24-7. For $200 off your Tonal purchase, use promo code TRADINGSECRETS. Quince: Vacation season is nearly upon us. This year, treat yourself to the luxe upgrades you deserve with Quince's high-quality travel essentials at fair prices. Go to Quince.com/tradingsecrets for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order. Robinhood: With Robinhood Gold, you can now enjoy the VIP treatment, receiving a 3% IRA match on retirement contributions. The privileges of the very privileges are no longer exclusive. The new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold. To receive your 3% boost on annual IRA contributions, sign up at robinhood.com/gold 

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host Jason Tardick and welcome to the pre-market trading segment. I'm going to tell you a little bit about what you can expect from today's episode, some financial tips, and a little bit of an update in my personal life. I'm fired up today, baby. The energy is high. I hope you are having a great week this guest, who, who, who, ho, the sharkiest of sharks,

the boss of all bosses. I wasn't really sure, you know, is she going to share what I want her to share? Will she be open or is she going to be a closed door? Woo! She did not disappoint her. You know her bags. You know the name of her brand.

We all do, but do you know her, Rebecca Minkoff? She was just on this last season of Real Housewives of New York. Of course, we're going to step into that. But if you are curious, how much are the bags? What are the profitability? How much did she sell the company for? What is her revenue? What is her revenue in a good years? What is her profit in her good years? What are the EBITA? Who owns the company? How did you finance the company? I mean, you talk about trading secrets where pop culture meets money. We got those answers on today's episode. And if you're a real housewife fan, I mean, we get into the weeds of how much they get paid,

all the stuff, the ins and outs. And why she is definitely not going on reality TV anytime soon as a real house. swife. So, but you hear from like a business lens, a lens you haven't heard yet. I can promise you that. Stay tuned to the recap. Uh, I mean, just stay tuned to the recap. Oh, Teddy says hi. The recap is great. Oh, Teddy says hi twice. And again, he wants to be part of this podcast. Teddy, do you want to be our mascot? Love you, Teddy. You are officially named Trading Secrets mascot. All right. Well, again, recap episode. It's stacked. Now, something you need to know. I was just on national TV this week talking about all things. It was interesting.

We're talking about Gen Zs and how Gen Zs are struggling financially today. In 2023, their earnings power was $9 trillion. But in the next five years, that number is going to increase to almost $40 trillion. Their ability to be connected with AI and tech and social currency and social trends and a myriad of other reasons has their earning power increasing significantly in the next five years. And we know that from a generational perspective with the baby boomers in Gen X transferring wealth, in the next 15 years, it is estimated that Gen Zs are going to have a wealth power of over $80 trillion being the wealthiest generation of all time. So if you are a Gen Z and you're struggling right now, double down. Your time is coming. And if you aren't a Gen Z, it's time to really start engaging Gen Z, hiring Gen Z, consulting with Gen Z.

So, you know, make sure you are soaking it all up because they will be the wealthiest. They will be the most influential. They will be the most powerful. And they are changing the landscape of how our technology and social trends and so many other things are working today. Another little finance tip I'll give you, total credit card debt ended 2024, $1.35 trillion. That's only $133 billion below the record from 2007. And we're seeing an annual increase in credit card debt of $74 billion. So be very intentional with where you're spending and how you're spending.

A little update for my life. Before I get into that, we got a giveaway every week. We're doing a little giveaway here. And if you give us a review five stars and then leave your Instagram handle, we are going to send something to you. So I have the winner this week. It is Kelsey R, Kelsey underscore R. You gave a really nice review saying that you're a weekly listener. I always love this show, but never have completed to write a review until now. And this week's episode with Sahil felt invaluable. As someone who runs a local newsletter, has been working to build that value. His advice and expertise was wonderful.

Excellent episode, Jason. So, Kelsey, thank you for that review. Shoot me in an email, and we have a gift from you from the influencer closet. If you don't know what the influencer closet is, PR packages come here all the time, and I like to give the stuff away. So go give us a review. Let us know your biggest takeaway from Rebecca Minkoff. And the intro up next week, we will give one lucky winner something from the influencer closet.

And the value of those things varies from anywhere from, like, $25 to like $500. It's all over. That being said, a little update from my life. Been in Nashville this week. I had a tough week with the back. We talk a little bit about that in the recap, was in the hospital for the first time ever. It'll be interesting to see what that costs.

Obviously, I'll share that information with you. And I'm in Nashville all this week, and it's been really good to be here because I'm starting to get connected to myself a little bit more without so many distractions. And I feel like slowly but surely, some really exciting chapters and next steps are coming. But enough of me, enough of market updates, enough of credit card debt in Gen Z. Let's get into the one, the only Rebecca Minkoff. Welcome back to

another episode of Trading Secrets. Today we are joined by an absolute powerhouse in the fashion business and now reality TV world. Rebecca Minkoff. Rebecca is a globally recognized fashion designer, entrepreneur and author who has co-founded the Rebecca Minkoff brand in 2005 and her brother Uri, think off. What started with an I Love New York t-shirt evolved into a multi-million dollar fashion empire known for its signature handbags, ready-to-wear collections, footwear and accessories. She is continuously adapted to shifting trends and consumer needs, expanding her brand into new markets, including fragrance and sustainable fashion. Most recently, Rebecca has expanded her public presence by joining the cast of Real Housewives of New York, giving fans behind-the-scenes

look into her personal life and challenges of balancing her growing brand, family, and newfound reality TV. So how does Rebecca manage to juggle it all? What are their financial and business lessons she's learned from building a global fashion empire? We're going to step into it all. And not only has she done all that, books are under her sleeve. She also shares her insights on entrepreneurship and personal growth.

And her new book, Fearless, the New Rules for Unlocking Creativity, Courage, and Success. Rebecca, I could do your intro the whole episode, but I got to put this thing down. I mean, you could cut it short. Just take a couple things off. What haven't you done at this point? I haven't jumped off a bridge. Would you do that? With a parachute, no.

Okay, but you did do reality TV. Yep, that made me want to jump off a bridge. Real Housewives of New York. Yes. I saw an interview in which you said you were trying. The idea behind it was you wanted to give people an inside look at what life is like from your perspective, family business entrepreneur. Yeah.

Did your, were your expectations exceeded or what did you feel about how things came out? My expectations were definitely not exceeded. It was not, you know, I think I served a storyline for them and everything else and all my accomplishments were really just edited out. And I've talked about it a lot. But I just was like, this is not the format for me. If you're not going to, if you're not going to show that part of my life, then there's no point of me being on here. I'm not here to pick fights. Why do you think they didn't show that part of your life?

I have no idea. I would love to find the answer one day. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. When fights did arise, you were just like, I'm not participating in this. No, I would be like, guys, let's see if we can work it out. Do we need to feed you?

Should we go for a walk? Yeah. Like, let's just take a breath. At one point, I was like, you need to stop talking. You need to listen. But all that also. So you're trying to play like, kind of like good cop, like resolve everything. I was trying to resolve everything and I quickly learned.

That's like the anti-reality TV. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Yeah. So after I figured that, I was like, now I'm just going to not participate. Had you been approached reality before? Was this the first time? I had been approached.

I mean, I did many seasons of Project Runway as a judge. Yeah. I was part of a short-lived spin-off of that show. And this was the, you know, we'd been approached like, let's get into the office and film the whole thing. And my brother and I felt like at the time with our company growing. Yeah. Like, when you're selling an elevated luxury product, do you want to see the mess?

Not always. Not always. So we felt like at the time it wasn't right. And at the time that this opportunity came to me, it felt right. Okay. When you look at it back, do you think, obviously it was, wasn't what you expected, but have you seen it help or hurt your brand? Because even with polarizing opinions of your loved, beloved, liked or disliked, it can still launch in a certain way. I mean,

we talked about, for this episode started, we talked a little bit about some people have had some interesting moments that propelled their career. And maybe those aren't perceived with positive connotation. But like, do you feel it all as though that it helped the brands? That's the crazy part is it helped the brand. It did. Yeah. How so? What's the measurement to know that. Well, brand awareness is up 20% year over decade. Wow. Every Tuesday night, traffic would triple to the site and stay doubled Wednesdays and Thursdays. So the amount of new eyeballs and audience now that I've brought in and, you know, building our list size and sales that come from that. Yeah. It's huge. Yeah. But I just was like this, you know, if the platform for this is women

arguing, I'm, I'm out. That's not what I'm here for. Okay. Is there any part of you at all? Like, Is there anything they can negotiate to keep you around again or have you come back? I think I said somewhere. Like if there was a nice public apology from certain people who I won't name, you know, maybe there'd be an open dialogue. On the shore, behind the scenes. Both. Interesting.

Yeah. Okay. When there were some things that like, this is the tough part about reality TV is when they're attacking you and then they're possibly attacking your brand. How do you deal with some of that scrutiny? We saw Bryn made the Nordstrom rack comment. Like how did it, how does the team behind? the scene say like, okay, we have to either use this as like a comedic element or we have to like

find a way to defend this. Did you feel like you're in that spot? So I knew right away that if you get defensive about those kind of things, first of all, I signed up for that. I wasn't surprised that that was going to happen. Yeah. And I was like, you cannot take this seriously. So you saw me going with page six. I did a podcast and I was like, guys, we got to go to Norstrom rack. Yeah. You know, we took pictures and like we leaned into the hilarity of it. Or when I was called boring. You know, we did a lot of fun social stuff around the fact that, like, if you believe that what this TV show edited me to be about being boring, like here I am everywhere else and I don't think I'm that boring. So like we made fun of it in a way. I,

I first of all, do not take myself that seriously. That's what my husband loves about me. So I can I can be made fun of all day and I'll usually laugh with you. You'll have a good time with it. Yeah. All right. Let's play a game, hire fire. We'll start with this. So you have to hire one person on Real House Vice of New York to join you for your next business. If anyone, it's got to be current cast, who would you hire if you had to hire one person? I would hire Jessel Tink. She would run my PR and communications. Because she is a smart, strategic girl. Okay. And she's loyal. And I think she really honed her chops working in the industry as long as she did. And she knows her stuff. Okay. You're on the show and you could fire anyone. Who would you fire?

I mean, we know we'd fire Bryn. Yeah, for sure. I mean, that's what I thought. I asked her a similar question and she said you. So I'm glad you repaid the favor. You know what? It's so nice because the feelings between us are so mutual. Have you got like off screen? Do you ever try and like settle like some of those disagreement? You know, the thing is is because I knew what she was doing. I knew we needed the dramatic element. Yeah. Like I was just like, oh, you're a waste of time and like whatever. I'll see you around and it's fine. Like there's no, it's not like I have like, I'm harboring any beef. Do you, okay, so I always found this with The Bachelor is that people, the camera. The camera. are off and then you'd see a certain side of someone cameras come on a whole different ballgame did

you feel that's the case with real housewives in new york i would have to say let me think about each person no i feel like pretty much everyone everyone was pretty consistent yeah is there a bit let's take the business side you're a you're a business you're entrepreneur you see it all is there an element of like you have to create drama to make the show go because ratings or what create the drama and did you feel any of that pressure. Do you think other castmates feel that pressure to step into that because that's what makes the show go now knowing what you know? Now knowing what I know 100%. But I do think that production really came into it with better intentions. Okay. I firmly believe there's an audience out there that wants to see a chaotic, frenetic, dramatic within our own lives, you know, it play

out and not have to be like this feeling of, oh, we have to have a fight now. And I feel like they wanted to be fun and funny. And then it was like, oh, back to old, old rules and like dramatic fights, you know, tearing each other up. Yeah. And so you could feel that, I don't know if you felt this, you can feel it's like, no one's fighting. Yeah.

Is someone going to pick a fight? Who's going to go? It's coming next. And then you have the fight. You're like, oh, okay, that's over with now we can just go back to it. So it's a very odd feeling. And then I'm supposed to be like, now I'm just supposed to be okay. Like we're all good now?

Just like that. All my boys all just like shot. through me and now I'm supposed to be like, oh, I love you again. Yeah. What do you think it is about some of either the OGs or this cast, though? They're, they just don't care about that. Like, I was with Dorinda today. I was interviewing her on my podcast.

And I was like, does any of that like sit with you after an argument or did it then? She's like, absolutely not. She's like, I was brought up in the family and that was how we loved each other and did it. And we didn't harbor stuck feelings. I was like, man, it took me a while to come down after all the fighting sometime. Yeah, but you're running these massive businesses and the drama and challenges and conflict happen every single day. So as a business leader, do you think cortisol not impacted, but with personal matters, it just shot through the roof? I think it's-

Because I would expect you to just not be faced. I'd be like, I've seen all this. I just was like, oh, the pressure of the fighting and like, how long is this going to go and how it was negative? Whereas here's the difference. If I'm dealing with 70% of my business evaporating during COVID, Like that is a situation that I am in for work that I signed up for that I knew probably was a risk, right? Not that we all knew about COVID. And then here you are with people and you're supposed to be friends and this is supposed to be the place where you're supposedly like everything is good.

So when it's not good, it's like fighting with a loved one. You're like, I don't come down from that as easy as I do. Like business is hard. It's tough all the time. I guess you're sort of expected. Okay. So it's when it's unexpected that it's hard to come down from. Okay. You know, you've talked about this a little bit before,

about how, what was the first conversation like for you to go on Real Housewives in New York? Oh, my gosh. I spoke to someone at casting and they were like, you know, what do you do in situations of conflict? And like, do you stand up for people? Do you take sides? I can't remember all the questions, but it was a lot about how I managed through that type of thing. And I was like, in my first interview, I was like, I'm not going to throw another woman under the bus. I am not going to talk about her behind her back.

Yeah. I am not going to start shit just for what. whatever. I'm going to be myself. And if you don't want that, great. Interesting. And yeah. Do you think they, do you think they knew that's what you're putting on the table and they kind of set you up to be the person that's not going to be that, but then have to deal with it? Like, do you think like hindsight? Do you think that's the character they saw? No. I think that they thought that one of the producers said to me, like, you're Rebecca fucking Minkoff. Act like that. I was like, I am. I don't need to be this.

demonic person to get my way and have a tantrum. Okay. And he said, would you teach your daughter to behave the way you're behaving? And I said, absolutely. So I think they thought, oh, the way to resolve things or get what I want or react to being poked is to stamp your foot and be like, you crazy bitch, what the fuck you're talking about? It's going to be a good clip right here.

I don't do that. You're welcome. Thank you. Appreciate that. I get that. I get that. All right. Would you ever do any other form of reality TV?

are you like one and done. No, I certainly would. I have had an idea of baking and it's out to a couple places right now. What I have to get over is... Can you speak to the idea at all? No, I don't want anyone to steal it. Okay, that's true. But there's, there's a lot of hilarity and fun and misadventure. It's also supporting women. But I have to decide if I want to be gone and traveling for a month at a time. And I don't know that I'm ready to do that. Yeah, I get that. All right. You alluded to your business. You talked about COVID, the impact it had. You also have talked on other podcasts about the impact tariffs that had in your business pre-COVID. Yep. We're now in a very tariff friendly, friendly, maybe. I don't

know. I literally is going to say friendly, but I'm like, I don't think that's the word. Not the word. We are in a tariff-rich environment right now. How did tariffs impact you back in 2019, 20? And how does that connect to how they're impacting your business today? So the first set of tariffs were like the worst thing that could ever happen because you hear about it and it happens before you can do anything to change. So we were mostly producing in China. Okay. And we knew that that was the year we were projecting, I think, a $3 million ebita. And it went reverse. It was a loss then of $3 million roughly. Yeah. I went to. That's a big chain. That's a big swing. And that was from tariffs? Yeah, because everything was made in China. So it just, it swung everything. What

percentage was it back then? Do you remember? Was it 10%? I think it's 10 or about even been more than that? Okay. So 10% to your margin is, that's a lot. Yeah. I think if I can't remember what each margin point for us was, I feel like each margin point was a million dollars. So it was a 10 million swing that took

it from down to us losing 3 million. And then you go into COVID. Oh. So we're already like, oh shit. Then you go into COVID. Then 70% of our business evaporates overnight. Because We were in wholesale.

Those stores were closed. The POs were canceled. We had all the inventory. So talk about like, you know, just the chain effect. I had gone to testify in Washington about the harm these tariffs could do to brands. Listen, I appreciate the sentiment, but you got to give a company more time to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you say sentiment, you're saying what?

I'm saying if you want to have tariffs and you want to really push people to move back into the U.S. and do U.S. made things and stimulate the economy, I appreciate that. Yes. But you can't do it in six months. Correct. And if I still have to order all my hardware, all the filler, all the thread from overseas just to make it here, my bag, my handbag price doubles. And the customer can't pay that.

So there's so many things, and I'm sure each company has its nuances. And industry. That's another thing, too. Like each industry is going to be impacted different from it. Yeah. But it's interesting to see most surveys of CEOs and Fortune 500s right now. and economists are all saying, like, this is going to potentially cripple the economy and we're seeing it happen and play out now. Interesting to see how you go from 3 million EBITA projected to

negative 3 million. That's a huge, huge swing. How do you think tariffs are going to impact you guys today? So because of that, we did get out of China. So now we're in Indonesian, Vietnam, primarily for our bag. So we're not being impacted today. A little bit on the ready to wear, but it's not a big enough number in our business. So we're safe. Yeah. But it's still, it still affects everything. People are still raising prices wherever they get things. Sure. You know, our hardware prices are now a little higher. Yeah. So it does affect you. Okay. Decade plus into the business, this happens. You talked a little bit about it. What did revenue numbers look like before 2019? Our height as a brand was 115 million. 15 million in gross

revenue. Yeah. 1.15. Wow. What year was that? That would have been 2016, 2017, maybe 2015. When you look back at that revenue number, what do you? think it was that drove that? We were on a whole growth mindset. We had taken in private equity money in 2012 and 2013, and the sentiment back then was grow at all costs. Go, go, go. Don't worry about margin.

Who needs margin? Just keep growing. How were margins at $100 million? They were not great. They were not where they needed to be. Okay. We actually artificially took the company down to about $70 million in order to improve our margins. Explain artificially.

Well, we said we're going to take $30 million off the table. so that our margin improves, because we're going to take, by store, we're going to say, is this profitable to be in this one store? No, gone. What about this one? No. Are you giving up the margins we need? No.

We have margin agreements with stores because that's big and wholesale. Sure. You're going to sell out at a 58% margin. We said, we're not guaranteeing anything to you. And they go, okay, we're going to cut your orders. Great. We're losing money on the deal anyways if we take it. Interesting.

So we took about 30 mil. 70 was like the magic number of stability, profitability, and then what was the idea, though, to like lean the company to do what, exit it? Or was it just to tighten the ship? We wanted to tighten the ship. We wanted to get rid of all the rotting ends and just make it a profitable, lower growth, sustainably, you know, healthy company. Gotcha.

Then you end up, so you have this, it's an interesting time that you sold in 2022, right? because that's, it was right at the end of 2022. Yeah. All right. But 2019, obviously tough here. COVID terrible year. 2021, I'm assuming slight rebound. Why sell?

It's like, you know, buy high, I sell low. Why sell when things weren't moving in the right direction? So we were back to growth. We were very proud of ourselves that through COVID, women bought bags, which was like, where's she going? But thank you so much. Cheers. Cheers.

We were hit with. such debilitating supply chain issues that we realize unless we partner with a strategic, we don't have the leverage we need. Okay. So we were getting 3,000 of 300,000 units end of 2021 with no way to control it. You know, when you look at the lineup of who these factories. Well, they would let 200 workers in versus 1,000. So when you're sitting there and you're like, we have no pole.

They're prioritizing the bigger fish, the other bigger handbag brand. So we said we need someone with muscle And we had been already speaking to this strategic That we sold to for about a year So there was a comfort level They knew the business, they knew our numbers We had been dancing around And then we just said hey

We need your fucking help Because this will put us out of business If we can't get goods Was this the closest you've ever been To being out of business 2019 and 2020? 2020 a business. And should we? And we said, no, this has been 17 years of blood, sweat, and tears.

Yeah. Not only would that be a disappointment and sad for us, but like to the team that we had left, we had about 22 people left. Okay. So we said, let's just go, let's just go down. And if we're going to go down, like we're going to go down. Swing it. Yeah. Okay. I saw, and I think it was Kristen Cavalieri's podcast, you had said your first starting salary, you took out $23,000 when you started the company. You were killing it. Did you guys fully self-fund the business? Or did you raise capital when started it. We did not raise capital. My brother funded the business on his Amex, and when he maxed that out... That's wild. How much? I think he had like a $250,000 credit line. He had a successful software company prior, so he had a nice credit line. Then he mortgaged his house. No way. Yeah.

So then he was like, I'm not comfortable with this. So 250, then how much did he put in? About 700, I think, is what he put in? Okay. So you're in about a million bucks. What is... He's in. I'm like, I have a bracelet. Not this race, but this, you know, it was like a, that would have been a good one. Yeah. Then we were big enough by then to get a factor in company, a purchase order financing company that was advancing capital on the stores that pass credit checks. So your million bucks or your brother's a million bucks in?

About that. And how long did it take for you guys to repay him? Once we got the factoring company going, he was repaid. Okay. And I think if there was a little bit left when we got our first PE investment, he was repaid. Gotcha. did you decide to split equity? And what advice would you have for someone that's wanting to start a business needs a family member, a friend, and has to decide, like, how do you break it out on

equity? Yeah. So we didn't discuss it at all at first. It was kind of just like heads down. We're in this together. I think at the time. No contract. Nothing. No contract. That's rare. Even with family members, that's rare. It was rare. I didn't know what the hell I was doing on the business side. Now I obviously do. Sure. So I was just like, oh, good. Help. I was on the way. Great. Right before we took an equity, he's like, all right, there's some money that's about to hit. Now we got to land the plane. He was like, you know, I imagined that we were 50-50 before, but I also loaned the business money. I also put up whatever a million bucks.

Like that's worth something. And so this is how he'd like to structure it. So we came to an agreement that at the time seemed like the right arrangement. And we kind of stayed in that ratio ever since. 6040. 35.65. 35.65. Okay. Good stuff. So then when you sold your first private equity deal, how much ownership did you take off the table?

We sold 26% and they put in... What did you sell it for? I think our valuation was about 40 million at the time. You did that in less than 10 years. That's wild. Yeah. I think it was 40 or 50 was an industry. In an industry that's so hard. Well, back then, though, like accessories was where people were just dumping money. Interesting.

Yeah. That's changed. Although the luxury handbag, like the, I feel like that space has blown up lately. Luxury is actually struggling. It is. Yes. Interesting. Yeah.

Is the handbag market in general? No. Our price point is seeing a resurgence. Okay. Cheap stuff is having like its moment because right now, at least with Gen Z, trends are so quick that they just want the $20, $30 dupe. Yeah. And then I'm on to the next and we're saying, no, our bags last 20 years.

Yeah. Like invest a little bit more money. and have it longer. And yes, we can be a part of a trend, but like we also have trendless items. Okay. I'm going to get back to trends. It's a huge topic right now before I do, though, 40 million valuation. Yeah. You guys sell a percentage to private equity. Take it through the ringer. You've already been through the ring. You talked us about it. You then sell it in 2022. What was the valuation in 2022? I can't tell you that. Oh, I can tell you what's been written. Can you say what's been written? It was sold for close to $20 million. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Interesting.

And do you still have, I know you're the chief creative officer, right? I am. And your brother is on the advisory board now. So he's not working in an active position. Correct. But are you, do you still have ownership in the company? I have a whopping. Let's hear it.

Drum roll. Here we go. Give me another clip. I have a whopping. No, I don't want this to be the clip. Oh, okay. I have three and a half percent. And then every year I earn another half percent that I'm there for five years.

But you're paid a nice salary. Yes. And that salary is a little bit more than 23,000. Just a little bit more. I love it. Do you feel incentive, like do you still feel a big question that we get from a lot of our listeners is like when you do exit and it's your baby, you're giving up your baby. Not only are you giving up your baby. You're giving up your name. Your name is on the front door everywhere. Do you feel any bit of less incentivized only having three and a half percent of what you once had 35 percent? And what advice would you have for someone dealing with that? Yes. I have to give it the advice on the on the split of the equity too because I forgot to give advice. Okay. I want to hear. So on the on the amount I have now, someone actually asked me, they're like, so. are these owners? Are they telling you to work this hard? Like, are they giving you this crazy insane goals? And I said, I'm doing all this because I love it. And this is my name. This is my

legacy. Yes, the percentage is fine. But like, I'm doing it because this is what I love to do and what I've spent 20 years building. So you could say the numbers two or one, I'd probably act the same. I think the advice that I would give, if you're going to sell, you are getting more married to these partners than any partner you're going to shack up with. you better make sure that you fight for what works for you for an employment agreement, for a salary, for like creative rights. Yeah. And I feel I have that with them and they've respected that.

And so I feel like, great, I'm along for this ride and I want to see it do well. You know, the advice that I would say for someone who's looking at an exit is get your ducks in a row. Like a lot sooner, it's not when it's a happening that you should be planning for this. It's like think about and visualize, what do you want? Do you want to stay? Do you want to go? what's your role? What rights do you want to have and really, really do the math and the diligence on that? Because once it happens and it's not yours, you know, my first day in the new office is when

it really wasn't mine, I got to have, I had a panic attack. I left. No way. Yeah. Why? Because I was like, wow, this really isn't mine. Did you feel like you had to like report to someone? It was very corporate. Like, what was the feeling? Well, it was a brand new office. They built fresh. And then, you know, all of a sudden I was like, oh, the, the owner. ownership I had over like calling certain shots was now changing and it was just an odd feeling. And I walked out the door and I walked all the way home over the Brooklyn Bridge just to like wrap my head around. What is this new role? And how do I now I have to go to someone and ask for permission on something. I'm not used to that or they might say no, you can't do that. And what do I do with that?

Do I just say, okay? See, this is like, is you're painting this picture. This is the scene I want to see on Real Housewives. Like I want to see you have a pan. You think? Freak out, walk out, go through that. Why didn't they take it. Maybe you can make a phone call. How do you, what does your panic attack look like? I took a long walk. Long walk,

but like, in my head, I'm like, is it a breakdown thing? Is it a breakdown thing? Is it a cry thing? No, no,

no. It was like, I was like a little shaky inside, like a little like, oh. Not. Yeah. And then in my head,

like I have the old fashioned Rolodex and I'm just turning through, is this a solution? Is this the solution? What about this? What about this? And my head is kind of going. Yeah.

And in those moments, I'm not on my phone. I'm like looking out and I'm just trying to get like pull some stability from somewhere. And if I can find one thing, I can find another and I just keep putting back what feels stable. Yeah. Interesting. Well, obviously it worked out though. You exited it at the right times. The company is blown up. We're seeing a lot of change. We talked about it already with trends. So like e-commerce is changing dramatically. It feels like right now from a marketing standpoint, everyone on social is doing out-of-the-box strategies to like get their product.

go viral. I think we've seen it all at this point. Is there anything from a marketing standpoint while TikTok is moving in the direction it is and trends can happen overnight? That was a huge success that worked for you guys. We used to do these scavenger hunts. Okay. Back in the day where we would say, you know what? These hints will be at these locations. Yeah. And if you complete the scavenger hunt, you get a bag. And we would normally time it around. There used to be this event in here called Fashion Signed Out where it was like a New York City party with all the stores participating. So the streets were already alive with fashion enthusiasts. But then to do that scavenger hunt during that time just created this like rabid like women everywhere trying to find

the hint and the bag and all to win. And that that was really fun. Scavenger hunt. Interesting. You might have to bring that back. I know. I think I'm like, yeah. Maybe that should come back. You might have to bring that back. Now, someone that also has a social media influence like yourself, on the opposite side, do you take brand deals? Do you ever work on a influencer perspective with brands. Yes, I do. As long as it's not competitive to what the brand has and makes, then yes. Okay. So health, health products, magnum ice cream, for instance. Yeah. But, but yeah, I take, I take them. Are you being on, so you're on both sides of the court? I'm on both sides. You're writing checks, you're receiving checks. Yeah. How do you handle the negotiation and are you

ever surprised at like what rate comes through the door based on the checks you write for other influencers? Oh, that's a really good question. Sometimes I think that the checks are bigger than you'd expect. And then sometimes they're really small. And you're like, you think I'm going to say yes to that. But you're usually, I think if someone's coming to me, it's not because I'm an influencer. I like to call people like founders people of influence. So you're not. I'm going to start telling myself that. I'm a person of influence. You're a person of influence, right? Yeah. So, so let's take a brand that I work with. I'm an investor and advisor in Biomee. It's a gut health supplement brand. We were talking about this last night. That's right. I love Biome. Yeah.

The chocolate flavors fire. Okay. So I'm going to try the chocolate mix. with the vanilla. Try that. I throw peanut butter and then throw in a banana in there. Oh, wow. Unbelievable. Okay, so that sounds really delicious. That's the convo right there. So that's one where I know I can talk about it.

I know it's also true to what I'm doing. You're not going to see me suddenly do a Wendy's commercial. Like, I'm only also doing deals. It's like I'm into biohacking and health. What if Wendy's came to you with like a million dollar deal? I would say, can we make an organic grass fed burger, please? Then I would take that deal. Okay, gotcha.

But if they said no to the organic grass fed burger, you wouldn't do it? I would make them change something. Like, can we make the fries and beef tallow? Like, I would have to do something. I can't just take a check like that. Okay. And also, I think you lose credibility. People are like, wait a second.

Here's your list of vitamins. Here's your workout program. You're working out all the time. And now you're reading Wendy's. Like, oh, I know you just took the check. The inconsistency of it. Yeah. Okay.

So you wouldn't do that. But BioMe is something that you invested in. Have you invested in any other companies that completely took off? Like, do you have a Grammy or an Oscar and a company you invested in that was like a huge win? Man, I wish. No. Sadly, no. Except your own. Except my own. All my blood, sweat and tears. That is a big one to have. Something you tied, now I kind of want to go into the consumer side. We just learned a lot about your businesses, the numbers, the success. But the people that don't have the desire to do what you did, but they want to learn from an expert in the field. If you are buying a bag, what are things that, you know, if I talk to someone who owns a car dealer, they can tell me 15 things like, wow.

out for this, don't get the warranty, watch this, when you do this. What are some of the things, like as a consumer we might not know that you can give us like a little secret into when consuming for a bag? Ooh, I love these. Okay. First and foremost, the metal, a lot of people will use an alloy to make the metal cheaper and lighter. So if you tap the metal, let's say the hardware on the bag and it sounds chintzy, don't buy it. It will break and it will peel and crack and flake. So you want something of substance, but it's not too heavy. If it makes the right sound, you'll know it's like crystal makes the right sound when you do it yeah yeah the hardware so tap the hardware tap the hardware okay that's a good one bag looks painted it will crack and peel how do you know

if it looks painted because you can't see any grain it's just like a flat service like imagine a cheap car okay right eventually it cracks and peels the seats yeah on the inside okay so so to the paint um look for stitching you know was it done haphazardly are there little threads hanging off that's all going to come on done. And then I would also say, like, did the bag that was made get wear tested? Like, is the phone pocket in the right spot? Is this cross-body strap in the right spot?

Like, when you put it on, is it tilting weirdly? You know, if it's a turn log, does it actually truly lock or is it a little loose? Like, those are all things that you can tell a bag that's made inexpensively. And then if the interior is made of a nylon, it should be thick. Because if it's thin, it gets holes in it. and then all your stuff is like hidden and you think you've lost your keys, your license, but really, it's just behind the bag. Interesting.

Those are really, really good ones from a price point, though they are. Like, I don't think, like, I think people are going to be surprised by that. But from a price point perspective, at what point do you think someone is buying a bag strictly for just the name and not the actual quality? Like if you are spending over this amount, when is it just for name and not quality? If you are spending anything over $1,000, it is just for that plaque. It's just for that brand equity and value. And I know this because we used to make in some of the same factories

of some of those brands that say they're made other places and they're not. And I've seen those bags being made and they cost the same as mine to make, but they did have Italian leather. And let's say my leather was from Brazil or somewhere else. And I will say at one point we were using the same leather vendor from a bag company that was charging 10 times more than me. And I was like, wow. That's insane.

Did that make you want to increase your prices, though? It did. But my customer, we are luxury for my customer. So I would just be saying, bye, I don't care about you anymore. Yeah. It's like honing it on your customer. It's everything. Yeah.

And so we've made sure that as I've gotten older and made more than $23,000 a year, that we make a bag that's under $500. And then we've also said, okay, good. We want Gen Z to want the bag. So what's a $95 bag? Yeah. That's great. Good advice for people that are buying.

Interesting. A thousand or more. you're just buying the name. Another question a lot of people had is how many employees at this point have you do you think have worked for you? Like if you had to guess over the years, total. Even come or gone, give me a roundabout number. Under a thousand.

Okay. So let's just call it a thousand. Thousand people have worked for you and they have to come to you and negotiate either when they're coming to work for you initially or their annual review. It's annual review season right now. What are some like the best in class things you've seen that have worked when people are trying to negotiate with you? and what are some of the worst in class things you've seen?

Best in class is you come to me and you say, this is how within my area I've increased X by X amount. Because I'm here, I noticed a change in this, this and this. Because I'm here cross-functionally, I improved this between our teams, which resulted in growth and productivity. What I don't want to hear is, oh, I know the company lost money,

but like I did a good job this year. Well, I'm sorry. Like, the company didn't do well. So you, you know, unless you're figuring out how you are so incredible, we can't live without you, or you improved other areas because you are working in a team. Yeah. And you can see that all the ships rose. It's hard to give those raises just because one person did a good job, if everyone else think. Yeah, that's fair.

Or, hey, so-and-so is offering me more money. I mean, good or bad, the way people are making more money these days is they're leaving and they're getting, True. The zigzag. Zygback. Go here. Go here. Right.

And it sucks because I fall in love with people and I want them to stay with me forever. And I'm like, even if I gave you 10% 10 to 15% raise every year, you're still going to get more than that

by jumping. Yeah. And that's hard. And you see people work at places for less time. And then you're always almost starting over. TikTok has a rule that my understanding is if you go out

and get an offer somewhere else and you come back to them, say, hey, I got this offer. Can you guys match it? They have to say, say you can no longer work here. Like it's a thing that you can't work there anymore if you go really. They're like if you went to get an offer, you know, I have to go. We're not going to match it. We're not going to discuss it. So they don't as a result of that go get offers because they know if

they do, games over. Did you have any like interesting rules as far as like that is connected or did you do anything different from a management perspective to either retain empower or inspire some of the people that worked for you? I'll tell the ones I'm the opposite. I'll tell the ones I love. If you go get an offer, please bring it to me so that I can see. if I can match it or exceed it. Wow. I would hate that that would be the reason you got a raise, but if you're leaving because you know you can go get X,

please come to me first and let me see what I can do. This is just a random question. I'm going back to Real Housewives. Like your depth is so, but it connects. It connects to your business though. Like your acumen is so, what? No, someone, I did a podcast and someone's like,

you're not even on it anymore where you stop talking about it. I'm like, I'm not the one coming up of the questions. Okay. I'm being asked. What do you want me to say? I won't talk about it anymore. I mean, and it's just, it's hot right now. It's hot and you're a hot topic.

I don't want to be blamed for it, okay? You shouldn't be blamed for it. You, you, it's your fault. It's my fault. I'm taking ownership right here. I'm asking the questions. I mean this, though. Your business acumen is so deep and your knowledge is insanely impressive.

And then you're going into some of these situations where maybe you know why I didn't react. Well, my question is how did you not react? Because I was like, because like you're like from a business perspective, you can run circles around most. of your colleagues. I said it. You didn't say it. How do you not like flex that? Like how do you, like, how did you not step into that and be like, all right, you want to spar? You want to talk business and all your success? Let's spar. Like, how did you not do that? I just felt like it was wasting my breath. Like, if you're, if you can't understand why selling to Nordstrom rack is part of a

business strategy and you think that's a bad thing, go in there, honey. Tom Ford, St. Laurent, you name it, they sell there. Like, I don't have to, I don't have time to waste my breath on you. I'm trying to conserve my energy and you, you clearly don't understand business. Or I think the one line she said was like, well, I'm in PR so I get it. I want to be like, how's that working out for you now, says? Not so good. But you did it. Held your composure. You didn't. I did really. There I said it. A little bit. Yeah, there you go. We got something. I love it. All right, talk to me about, yeah, I mean, we've talked a lot about this episode on it, but your new book, Fearless, the new rules for unlocking creativity, courage and success. A lot, you're doing a lot with female

empowerment. And I'd say our listener base is about 60% women that listen to this. So what are some of like the tips and hacks that they can expect to get from your book? So this book, the problem that it solves for anyone reading it is you don't read the book and then, you know, throw your hair back and say, I'm fearless. Now I can approach life with no fear. No, you're going to be scared. But here again, the things you can hold on to for stability that will allow you to take that risk even though you're scared. And so for me, it's 22 just business principles that I've used now twice having started my business and then almost losing it and rebuilding that I was like, let's see if it works again. And there's simple things. You know, we talked about partnership with my brother and

how that worked. Well, you need to assess and come to the table with any partner, marital, spouse, lover, whatever, and business and get on the same page. And you have to do that a lot. And when you don't, you veer off and you start doing other things. Or really weighing everything. risk. What will happen? What's the worst case scenario if I do this? Yeah. And if it fails, I'm not a failure. What did I learn? And so I think it's just these easy to remember things that you can use in those moments where you're like, I'm scared shitless. What do I do? Oh right, Rebecca said, what's the worst that can happen? And okay, good. Knowing that, like I said to myself with housewives, what's the worst that could happen? Use that rule. Why 22? What's the

22 number? Originally it was 21. And then I went in and added a whole chapter for the paperback about money. Okay. Women talk about sex. They talk about their babies. Thank you. That's what we do. This is what we talk about here.

No one talks about money. Why are we talking about what I invested in and how I'm, you know, saving for the future and making a nest egg and like, why isn't the first thing out of my mouth when I see my best friend like, oh God, what stock were you in that just plummeted? Yeah. So it's really about getting comfort with the language of money. I wasn't comfortable for a long time. Yeah.

But we have to. If we're going to ever be on par with you men, we need to talk about it. Why do you think it is that that conversation's avoided? What's your theory? I think that women somehow, somewhere, we're marketed to or unconsciously told that, you know, shameful to talk about money or shameful to negotiate. I love negotiating. Now I just like to like see the reaction I'm going to get when I negotiate.

Like my colleague at female founder collective, my co-founder was like, tell them a number that makes you want to vomit when you're asking for something. And I was like, okay. Do you do that? I do. And do you do it? You just do a straight face? this is the number, get there?

Yeah. And what's usually the reaction? Do they vomit? Sometimes. No, no, it's the number that I say that I want to vomit. Oh, I thought it's the one that you think they're going to. Then they'd all walk away. Okay.

No, so like I was working on a podcast deal. Yeah. And it was for several episodes and it was an advertiser. And I was like, fuck it. I'm asking for this. How much was it? It was for $75,000 for I think three to four episodes as an integrated partner. Sweet.

And I just went for it. And they're like, yeah, that sounds great. And I was like, oh, shit. I could have asked. deeper. And sometimes people say no. And they're like, all right, what is a number you can do that's close to that? But you have to get like that poker face. When my husband was like, I'm dating someone before. Obviously, we're married. And I was like, let me know what happens with that. And you just, you know. With money and especially this topic, women speaking about it and continuing to grow in

space, do you have a take on preempts or post-numps or anything like that? So I remember we were about to get married and I was like, babe, babe, we need a pre-num. And I had nothing and he had nothing. but I knew I was going to be something and I knew he could be something and so somewhere there's a napkin that's like what's mine is mine your big napkin contract girl that's your second one

those are two big contracts too what's mine is mine what's yours is yours is what it said now now how we structure things is there's a joint account for family and then everything else we make on the side is just ours to do whatever we want and I inserted a flusy clause

into our will what's a flusy clause if I die yeah and he shacks up with some new, hot young thing. This is unbelievable. Is this on the napkin or is this is the real contract? No, this is actually legitimate. Okay.

He shacks up with someone. Immediately all my assets, everything goes into a trust for the kids. So that girl has no chance of getting anything that I made. So if you pass, this is if you pass away. Yeah. You pass away. This is killing me. So if you pass away, which hopefully never, well, we're wrong at that some point.

But he's still going, if he gets a wife, he's done. He's out. No, he's not out. It's just everything goes to the kids. and he can manage it, but he can't go buy her stuff with that money. Like, they're very, yeah. Is this, like, amongst your friend group? Is this a clause?

No, it's just my mom came up with it. And I was like, that is smart. And I was like, babe, we're putting in a flusy clause. Gotcha. What it, like, I've never heard of this. I'm so intrigued. Hang on. So if something happens, you get divorced and he doesn't end up with someone.

He's just single. Yeah. Then what? Then the assets. Well, then when you get divorced, you divide your assets. Yeah. Yeah, so they'd be divided. That is unbelievable.

That is such a power play to have a floosy clon. I wanted to just insert it. Not that I don't trust my husband, but my mom was like, it's not that you don't trust your husband, but it's the spell another woman can cast on them after you're dead. Wow. I don't know. Call me crazy. Your mom knows.

Last one I got for you is when you started, you guys started dating, obviously get married. You start to, you're starting to make some good money. Like how did you manage expenses and what advice do you have? anyone listening out there when they're starting to get a relationship, how to actually manage expenses based on maybe income differentiators? It's a great question. And I'm happy you asked this. In the beginning, again, both of us had nothing. And I was like, he's going to be successful before I'm going to be successful. So I'm going to depend on him to like take it a little easy and like grow slowly. And then my career, the ability, he's a director and mostly of commercials.

So he makes great money. But like mine has been. more steady, I would say, over the long term, because he'll get a great paying gig and then two weeks later, another one. And so how we set it up is whoever is making more, depending on what that ratio, that one takes. So if I'm making a third more, then I'm putting in a third more into the family and joint account. And then again, the rest of the money is mine. So we just, we have this central place that's for the family, for the kids. Whoever's making more at whatever, like, take it on a year by year basis. You put in who, you know, if you're making 100 and I'm making 200, and I'm making 200 grade, I'm putting a double.

Unbelievable. You got to call that something, too. I know, because I have a friend. It's a good one. No, we need a name for this. The salary ratio deal. Okay. I like teeter totter.

Teeter totter. I think I might have done something like this in the book where like based on the teeter totter, I think if you make more than 15% of your partner, you use the teeter totter. And then it's like you'll put in the percentage based on how much you make in comparison. I love that idea.

The teeter totter. Here we go. Because the amount of friends they have, they're like, I got asked my husband if I can buy that. I'm like, you make your own money. Yeah. Spend it.

Right. And you can't have those solutions unless you talk about it. And that is one of your 22 principles. Where can everyone find your book? You can get my book on Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, wherever books are sold, buy the book and leave me a review, please. Okay, where do you leave a review? On those sites, right?

On Amazon. Okay, leave a review. Before I get your trading secret, did you enjoy, like, do you enjoy this book process? Do you enjoy, like, writing it and then marketing it? Writing it was way harder than I thought. I remember when I would see other writers. like, woe is me. I'm suffering. I was like, you're a loser. You're writing a book. And then I went to write it. I was like, oh, this shit's hard. Burthing it is even harder. I was going to say,

birthing it is way harder than writing. Way harder. And writing it sucks. Yes. Yes. Okay. But it's fun. And I rely greatly in my, I have an incredible PR team. Shout out to Jamie and Ebony and social, Taylor, like the Harper Collins team. They've been incredible. So that makes it easier. Amazing. All right. Well, we got to get a trading secret from you. We've gotten a lot from you so far, but you can't get this trading secret from a professor or a textbook or a TikTok tutorial only from Rebecca Minkoff, given your experience. It could be financial, professional, or personal, whatever you can leave us with one trading secret.

We are in an age of instant gratification everywhere. Your career is not going to be that ever. You need to adjust your time horizon and expectations for a long-term game. I don't know of a cheat code here. and make your decisions based on the long game and make your business you know, Northern Starlight or whatever you want to call it,

your North Star based on that, not like, oh, I'm going to be a billionaire in a month or oh, I'm going to be a multimillion dollar company in two years. Like, just play the long game because to build something that lasts and stands the test of time is hard and it takes a long time. And I think you're an example of that because you had the long game,

you had the North Star. When things were going well, it worked out. But when things were, I mean, going really not well, you still powered through. And I don't think if you don't have that North Star, why else would you power through? You just ended at that point. You've done well, you built the brand.

It's done. You obviously saw something, though. And it's so much, I think it's so much easier said than done. I think a lot of people say that. They don't do it. A lot of people think they're going to make $3 million and then they lose $3 million and stop. And you just kept like, honestly, like for some reason, the scene of Rockies coming. Like, you know, how many hits can you take and just keep moving forward?

And you guys did. And then you exit it at 2020. tune. Now you're the CCO with a company and you want a real housewife. So how about that? How about that? Take that, Brin. That is a trading secret. All right, Rebecca, where can everyone find everything you have going on? We know where the book is. Where can they find all your stuff? You can listen to my podcast, Super Women with Rebecca Minkoff. Sadly, I can not ever have you on. And you can follow me at Rebecca Minkoff at Becky Minkoff and buy some stuff. Rebecca Minkoff.com. Buy some stuff. Those bags are selling. Thanks to Real Housewives. And if you ever do

like an integrated podcast where you're going to negotiate now 150,000, not 75,000. It's not all women guests. I'd love to come on. Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe I should start a new one. Let's do it. Thank you for being on this episode, Trink. See you guys, Rebecca. Thank you for having me. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing in the bell to the Rebecca Minkoff episodes. One of my favorites, an absolute electrifying business boss woman. David, the best part about these episodes is sometimes I think they're the best. Sometimes I think they're the worst and you think usually the opposite. I thought this was one of the best. So I'm curious, what'd you think? Yeah, I'm going to have to side with you on this one and agree with you actually,

which is going to be a flip the script for what we normally do. But I got to say, I have in my notes here, I have, it was an absolute masterclass of an interview by you, first of all. So that's a prop there. I thought that. And I think by her reactions and some of the questions and the way that she answered, like she was excited to, which means you did a really good job. And, transitioning and say going into things and asking these people things that they're excited to talk about once the episode's over like holy shit i've never talked about that um and uh i think you did a great job and i thought that she was really really into it and then when you comes to her i mean she is the definition of like boss lady and it's not just the business aspect of it i thought the way that she was able to speak to her business the numbers of the business some of the terminology that she was using that after four years of doing this i actually know what ebita means and PE and VC and all that stuff. So snaps to us. But it's also like her care of like people and her

and her customers and her clients and communicating those things to her. I was really, really fascinated. I was actually really motivated listening to her. And I, and I don't, I've heard the name forever. I have no clue like who she is. So to put some, some face to the name and hear about her story, I thought it was, I thought it was really, really, really good. It is tough. to get a 10 out of 10 review from David, so we will take it. I mean, yeah, a household name. Like everyone knows the brand, Rebecca Minkoff. And I think it's great that she is now putting who she is to that brand. And the story of that brand is, I mean, just kind of crazy, I mean, just like using her brothers, Amex and like how they started it and where they've come.

And then they sold it. Then they sold it again. And then they had the low dip. Like, it was kind of just crazy storytelling. Before I even go any further, I got to ask, is, is Carter sleeping? Are you tired? I need a little bit more. Roddy here. I feel like you're whispering here. This is not that David we know and loving the recap. Oh, no, no, I'm great. Are you kidding me? I'm firing on all cylinders here. I'm actually in Orlando, Florida. Just finished off a little three-night kind of a quick trip down here. Get a little vitamin D on the skin, so we're feeling good there. Carter is down, though. But he's doing great. Now, more importantly about me, I'm wondering about you. Are you in your house right now?

a hospital bed because that back i'm worried about that back dude i don't know what the hell's going out with me i'm i'm getting fucking old man washed up weirdest thing i talked about it on my instagram and stuff but we do the rv trip i know i heard it lifting and something set it off and bro that pain that monday night i have never ever i hope to never feel pain like that for that long ever again go to the hospital crawling all fours i get shot with steroids still taking swear it's just about to finish the pack i go be in the MRI fucking tomorrow. So I'm hoping I don't have okay herniated disc. I'm like a bulge disc right now knees to my knees to my toes. It's like still tingly, which is crazy. And to put in perspective, I don't know, man, like that's not to sound dushy,

but like two, three weeks ago, maybe a month ago, I was squatting probably like 295 pounds. And right now I can't, I can't do a squat on my foot. I can't do a one like a squat. I fall. Are you sure? It's like I had a stroke or something. Are you sure? sure it's not from the RV life that this happened and not from weightlifting i think it's from way i think there was like like when i talked to the doctor they're like it's probably like a three out of four like you probably had something going on and it was just a matter of what was going to do like do it and 14 hours of because when you're in that RV it's like the whole time it's like you're bouncing like you hear the whole thing rocking so like i'm sure that didn't help but you know

what we're on the mend i haven't had a full week in Nashville in a while so that's been good I have another full week coming up. Has it been good? Has it has a big good? It's been great. And we'll get back into, we'll get back into Rebecca Minkoff episode. Yeah. We're on a little detour here.

Today wasn't great. Today wasn't great. It's been great otherwise. Today was the first day I didn't do any work. And I didn't really like numb myself with productivity. I was just like sitting around and I don't know. So maybe that is great. maybe the actually maybe that's exactly great

I've been thinking I'm like wow like what am I want out of life like I'm here 36 like I'm gross so happy I'm dog but like I kind of don't like what am I doing you know what the great with the great part about safe space recap moment segments are is you never know when they're going to come in the recap at some point

at some point we're going to talk we're going to be a safe space it might be right off the heels of complimenting our guests and our inner and the person that we had on the podcast and it might be at the end and it might be at the start but right now it's a safe space so the fact that you're in your fields and you're in you didn't numb yourself with work to me i hear those i'm like that's a good thing jason that's true it's a good way to like kind of like reconnect with myself and i was thinking today i was like i got to get we talked a little bit

about this last week i was like i got to get like a little bit more like i'm just like kicking the can on everything i'm just working and working and working and working yeah well yesterday morning did a tv thing that a podcast and when you do that you don't focus on your personal life or do anything for yourself and i feel like i i got to fucking get that together and the only thing that changes is going to be the number when you use to explain yourself as you reflect on what you're doing oh i'm 36 i'm in nashville and all of a sudden i'm 37 i'm still in a 30 38 and still national it's like these time did that just flies by if you neglect it yeah and it's not even the national thing it's more just like yeah sitting here on a sunday like on my couch by

myself with the dog i don't know i don't know i'm just a weird mood today man it's It's weird vibes on this Sunday. I don't know. I'll figure it out. Well, it's good. It's good. This is what I needed to like by the part of me slowing down a little bit. Yeah.

And even getting a dog and everything is like having time to like reconnect with with me. So that's it. That's what we're doing. You got to do a little one one one method. You got to do a little, you know, we talked about it yesterday. You know, reading method. You know, one too. How do you do?

We're Rebecca Minkoff, trading secret. we're in age of everyone's instant gratification everywhere. Sometimes it's not going to happen in life, especially your career. So, you know, sometimes it's okay to just take a breath, man. Take a breath. Yeah, take a breath. Take a breath. And I'm enjoying this whole, like, single life.

I'm enjoying it. It is great, man. There are things about it. I am absolutely loving. But there are moments, I think especially in like a Sunday. Because remember, we talked a little bit about this on the podcast. I find it kind of interesting that our brains are programmed at certain times. to really want companionship, right?

Like, so for me, it was like, if I look at the last 15 years of what I've been in relationships, I usually connect with that person in the morning and night. So it's morning and night in which I'm missing that.

And I do feel like Sundays are definitely a day where like, I'm missing that, that, I'm missing that person in my life. You know what I'm saying? That's why we started recap

in some late Sunday nights. Yeah, so you can get me ready to feel. And this is Sunday, Sunday nights are my all-time 100% peak of feels. but yeah man I don't know it's whatever it is what it is

it's good week a lot of good work stuff we did a couple little TV segment we did the non-for-profit for let's have cancer we did some other work with with wags and walks that will be out here soon which is cool so it's good I feel good about this week good good awesome all right now let's get back to Rebecca what were some

there are a lot of numbers here David yeah I mean we draw like what blew you away before we get into numbers typically I am the spokesperson for reality TV beef and there was one there was referenced twice in the in the pod with her and brin i believe it was yeah can you fill me can you give me and if there's anyone else i was listening i was like i did i don't know what the beef is but it seems pretty out there seems pretty public knowledge

it seems like brin like if you watch the show brin was always trying like towards the end especially trying to get a rise out of rebecca minkoff i think there was a there's a common theme in the show that the girls expected and wanted more out of Rebecca. And by that, they wanted more pop, more drama, more, you know, more fanatics to add to the ratings. And they felt like they weren't getting that. And I feel like there was a little buzz around that in the audience that was watching. And I think internally, I think Bryn was like, all right, if you're not going to give it to me, I'm going to get it from you. And she would take different shots at her. And one of the shots she said was like, like she talked about her purses, like, oh, you can only get those purses at Nordstrom

rack like totally just trying to like chirper now i just went on brin's podcast brin came on my podcast oh okay brin i cannot wait to hear what you think of this episode because you are either going to love it or you are going to despise it but she is firefight boom boom quick witty flirty quick witty flirty non-stop here we go foo foo foo so their polar opposites as far as like their styles their communication they're acting like you could see how they butt heads a little bit well it's going to be tough for Bryn because I am team Rebecca Minkoff right now. So we'll see though, you know me. I'll give it

I'll give it its fair shot. But when it comes to numbers, Jay, you want to talk numbers? I think the biggest thing that shocked me was the way that the business started, the $250,000 on the Amex credit lit in it and then she's like, oh yeah, and then he mortgaged his house. I thought

that was just crazy. And then the last thing that I found really, really interesting was her talking about after she sold her company and she was the CCO, she went back in the new offices and had a panic attack on the first day and had to walk home, walked all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge because she was just like, I should be happy, I should be this. My name is still on it. I sold for a boatload of money and now I have to ask permission to do things in what I used to do whatever I wanted. So I thought that was a really

good perspective as well, just putting a little POV in her shoes in that moment of her life. So those are, those are some things that stuck out to me. That was so real. That was so raw. And I think it kind of connects like do you ever have those situations like where your mind and your heart and let's say like just everything is telling you one thing but then your body you can't control it and your body's just telling you something else like you go into situations and your heart just starts racing you can't understand why or you go into situations and you start sweating or you have these like panic attacks like all these things like I feel like it's a very very real thing and I don't know like that to me is really relatable because that happens to me a lot and sometimes I don't

listen to it and I fight my body as opposed to listening to it and I'm really not sure what the answer is right like is the answer take that panic attack and learn a lesson is the answer continue to fight and just stay there and not worry about it well it's also like in that 15 seconds where you could be reacting how how many how many days how many weeks how many years how many minutes are you going to spend a recovery time for whatever however you act so like our reactions in those moments are like we can we can do something in that moment that may cause further you know work or damage or something to like get back to that place or we can just remove ourselves take a breath reflect refocus and then be able to like save yourself some face

or save yourself some time in not overreacting to a situation my biggest fear with panic attacks which I've had plenty of my life is that because it's an uncontrollable thing you can't control like you have no control over it when it hits you have a control of when it hits how you manage it but when it hits my fear is the panic attack is going to come

at a time that it can't come you know I'm in all right like I think like okay I'm live on TV is it going to hit I have to give a speech in front of yeah people is it going to hit I have a huge moment at TikTok headquarters going to hit and those are the things I worry about but I don't know if anyone

how would you if you thought of about it how would how would you handle it um i mean i usually just i manifest out of it i'm like no like i like the thought will cross my mind i'm giving a speech for 200 people what if panic tank hits i said i like talk to myself i say it's not going to hit this is what you do this is your forte you're going to get up there you're going to make an impact you're going to crush this thing it's going to go perfectly and you're going to be good and if i start to feel like let's say i'm in the middle of it and i do feel it and that's happened dude i've been in the middle of a speech i remember I was in Toronto to all a Snapchat and TikTok headquarters and social media people.

There's like hundreds of people there. And I was late because we were running from the plane. And in the middle of speech, like the speech was going great. I'm speaking like this. In the middle of speech, I start to have a panic attack, but I can't stop. And I remember in my head, like, slowing down and breathing. And no one knew. No one could see it.

No one could feel it. No one could do anything. And the speech went great. But I think it's just like slowing everything down. I'm going to have to learn that because I actually love public speaking or like giving like, you know, speeches or like talking in front of like I do it a lot in hockey obviously in the locker room I have this thing though right I cry a lot when I public speak and I know that it's like coming on and same thing I'll be like crushing in the middle of it and be like huh you haven't cried

yet and then the next like sentence that comes like I start like getting emotional I think it's because emotions you're like adrenaline's at so such a height like I remember when I was on Chris Harrison's podcast a long time ago talking about the breakup and stuff I remember my adrenaline was so high going into that podcast because I knew what we were going to talk about and I didn't want to talk about it. And so the second it did, like the tears hit. And I do think like when your adrenaline's high, your emotions connect with that sensitivity. Well, I almost have had to stop pre. I've had to stop writing things down before speeches and I've had to start winging almost everything because if I know what I'm about to say, I will know that I'll get emotional.

If I don't know what I'm about to say, I have to like fight or flight in that moment to like deliver and then you kind of get through it. Maybe sometimes you sacrifice it not being as good. Interesting. I don't know. The panic attack, the triggers that we have in our brain sometimes. It's crazy.

Kind of crazy. What did you think of her trading secret? Well, I thought it was fantastic because it was, you know, for those who caught a refresher, she said we are in the age of instant gratification everywhere, but your career will never be that. And I just loved it because hopefully there's people out there that are resonating and grinding

every day and doing maybe things outside of their job description or their norms or they're trying to overachieve in hopes that if you do that long enough, the right people will see it, you'll start feeling a lot more like self-worth and you'll start feeling proving a lot more value. I hope that was just like a moment that people could be like, okay good because like it's working or it's going to work or everything that i'm doing is for a purpose um because i think the fact that we are looking for instant gratification in a lot of places and you don't get that from work very often if ever well it's true would you would you think about it i thought i was i honestly that that was great i was a phenomenal train

secret i gave my perspective on it when when she said it and um i could have talked to her for another two hours yeah she's you know and then in talking to her after I'll say some of those things she teased she's got some cool stuff happening that's like it's like if you think she's badass now just wait so can I ask you a question yeah what do you like she threw some numbers out there what do you think her net worth is I know that's a fug that's a little bit of Fugazi kind of like she she's like how how wealthy do we talk in here I mean it depends like net worth will also include what the value of the company yeah is but if we just take like yeah what's her debt worth i mean i bet i guess it's in the is in the tens is no more than that

okay yeah i'm thinking like probably 30 to 75 okay i think assuming she's getting like right so you know the valuations of when she exited and then those were big pops and then she's probably you know you're making seven there's no way she's making less than seven figures currently right with her salaries and stuff so i got to think north of like 25 for sure north of 25, like below 100, but, um, obviously it's a big range. But yeah, I mean, I think she's worth a lot crushing it. She's a big fish. She's a big fish, big fish, big fish.

One thing that's also crushing it, David, is our reviews last week. Shot out to Stacey Michelle. She said, I love the RV content. It's interesting. I love John's music. I think Dave is right about the Sahil episode. I was skeptical of a lot of things he was saying too, but I'm going to continue to try them. So David comes through.

Big done. We had a, in polar opposite of that, we had a lot of big Sehill fans. Yes. Pierce, JP, Tisham sent the review, NR99-809 sent the review. So all five stars, all great. So guys, if you give us a review, we'll give a shoutouts here. And we also have giveaways. So continue to do that, please.

What else? Do you get anything else before we wrap? No, I just want to, this next coming week, you said you're in Nashville again. You get the MRI tomorrow. what's going to be what are we looking forward to in the week ahead what can i ask you next sunday and for you to be like i want to ask you about something that you're looking forward to what what is that thing so april third to april 7th okay let me go in new york we got the nick jonas show okay um so the the last five years which is opening and i think we have a couple

investors actually from training secrets now it's a very very high any any type of investment of Broadway entertainment or creative is high risk. Okay. But we'll see what happens. Very excited for that. My parents are going to be there. The premiere will be great. It's just going to be a great time in New York, but I'm also looking at places.

I think I'm going to make a decision, David. You're going to, you're going to like hate it. You're also going to love it. It has to do with where I'm going to live and a real estate play I'm going to make. And I've been going back and forth on all this for like a year and a half. I'm pretty sure I have a decision made, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to make moves in the next month. Okay. So next week, next week, I'm going to follow up on this.

And you're going to give me something a little more concrete? Yeah. I'm intrigued. And you know what? You've been asking about my dating life? I didn't have, last week, I didn't have any dates. Well, that's because you're, yeah, well, you've been in Nashville for a week. So that, you know.

So, well, I haven't been able to walk either. So maybe this week I'll go on a date. Okay. I would love to hear about that. Yeah. Maybe I will. We'll see. Okay. I love it. What is? No, I'll ask that next week. Let's get next week. A lot of teasing. You ask me whatever you want next week. We got Rebecca Minkoff this week. And next week we have Kelly Flanagan coming on the podcast. So we'll have, we will have a great recap for that one. I'm sure the curious Canadian will have a question or two. We look forward to that. David, anything before we wrap. No, no. Great segue. I can't wait for next week. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading. One you couldn't afford to freaking miss.