Trading Secrets - 275. Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino Part 2: Life after Prison, Staying Sober, and Opening Archangel Centers, How He’s Rebuilt His Life and Proving the Comeback is Greater Than the Setback Episode Description:

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

This week, Jason is joined by reality TV icon, entrepreneur, and one of the most recognizable TV personalities of the past decade, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino!Mike rose to global fame as an original cast member of MTV’s Jersey Shore and continues to star on Jersey Shore Family Vacation with over 15 years of television. Beyond reality TV, he’s a bestselling author of Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation. He’s a successful entrepreneur, investor, and a leading voice in addiction recovery now with his own addiction centers, Archangel Centers, inspiring millions with his platform.  Now he is also known as St. Michael, he lives and dies by comeback is greater than the setback, and also now it’s cookies and comeback with Bang Cookies. Now sober, Mike explains why sobriety is his greatest superpower, how he rebuilt his life, and the businesses he’s built since—including seven-figure book sales, addiction recovery centers, and new ventures. He also shares his perspective on love, money, and what finally changed everything.Mike reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!Host: Jason TartickCo-Host: David ArduinAudio: John GurneyGuest: Mike “The Situation” SorrentinoStay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast! Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast Youtube: Trading SecretsFacebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial Trading Secrets Steals & Deals!Boll & Branch:Boll & Branch's Signature Sheets and Waffle Bed Blanket are a must-have bedding combination.Discover a softness beyond your wildest dreams with Boll & Branch. Get 15% off your first order plus free shipping at BollAndBranch.com/tradingsecrets with code tradingsecrets.Northwest Registered Agent:Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Don't wait, protect your privacy, build your brand and get your complete business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes! Visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/tradingsecretsfree and start building something amazing!Wayfair:The new year is HERE. Get back into an at-home routine you LOVE and elevate your space with Wayfair. From bedding and mattresses to storage solutions for every room in the house, Wayfair is your one-stop shop. Get organized, refreshed, and back on track this new year for WAY less. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.

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to another episode of Trading Secrets. This is part two with the one, the only, Mike, the situation. I got to say, we have had more compliments on this episode than I can remember in a long time. And please remember to give us a review on Apple and Spotify. Five stars, give us a review and a guest and or theme you want us to think about as we come into these upcoming weeks. And I have some things to give away, some sweet merch. Now, in December, we gave gift cards away. All those have been shipped out.

So we got the goods to be given away. five stars. David, before we get into this episode, how's life? How you feel it? Well, life's great. We're in the middle of the storm of the century. It feels like it's going to hit differently for where you are listening to this. If you're in beautiful California, if you're in beautiful Southern Florida, you're laughing at us right now, us people in the storm. Maybe it's the Mike situation episodes that just bring a little chaos to the intro and recaps. You are boarding a plane live recapping last time. This time, I can't even see you.

You're in the dark. How is it going for you over there in Nashville? I'm freezing my ass off. You know, I was chirping my mom. She was acting like, this is not a drill. Life is over. Get ready. Get prepared.

And it snowed like two inches here. I'm like, this is a joke. The problem is that the weather kept changing. So the snow melted and then it got really cold. And it was a frozen tundra. So the power lines. completely froze this morning driving around all the trees froze and then the weight of the ice and the trees had them collapsing so david this morning it sounded like everywhere outside it was like

this like pop pop pop pop pop pop pop and it was all these trees literally like exploding and falling over so we're here with no power katherine right now is in a dog bed by the fireplace warming up teddy loves the cold so he's thriving moose does not like the cold so he's not thriving but it's cold man I'm like, I mean, you think about all the things that you need power for for cooking, hot water to shower, like your chargers. I mean, it's, it's cold. It's going to be a battle to get through this night. It's one of those things. Power went out for me like a month ago.

It was for like two and a half hours. I thought, to quote Jim Carrey, my pet's heads were falling off. I didn't know what to do. And the amount of times I'd walk into room knowing the power's on and flip the light switch and it not work. It's like, oh, yeah, you idiot. You need power for that. need power for this. Oh, the food's going to go bad. There's no power in the fridge. Oh, I can't. It's like, oh, hot water. It's just like ridiculous. So we are very dependent people on power. I hope you get it

back very soon. Up here in Western New York, Jay, I'll just say it's almost like the benefactor is like it's really, really, really cold here. But that just means we only just get snow. We're not dealing with the rain. We're not dealing with the ice. We're just getting a lot of snow. I've shoveled the driveway a couple times get my steps in and uh it's just it's business as usual a little bit around here so that's nice that's nice hey while you're in this like a little snowstorm phase is there anything you're doing you watching any shows anything exciting going on in the world uh no we we're doing some very non-exciting things we are going like what do you guys like the you know what are you're snowed in what do you do ash is in this weird like i think she's buying a little of the hysteria of like the uh

like it's a snow storm and like power's going to go out she has like lanterns like she's praying the power goes out so that she can put these arts and, like, she's lantern. She has candle. She has... I could use a lantern so bad right now, dude. She was buying these snacks. She's like, well, the power goes out. We got to eat. I'm like, yeah, we don't need 44 slim jims from the dollar store.

Like, we're gonna be okay. So that's a little bit about that, but we're taking a little bit of quiet time today and tomorrow because school's already canceled for tomorrow. So we're going from work. We're doing weird things. We're like going through all of the old folders of important paperwork.

and getting our birth certificates and social securities and our tax. We're doing some weird stuff like that. We're trying to clean through some storage and stuff. Oh, that's crazy. Well, we just watched the show. I feel like that was kind of normal. His and hers, really good show. Okay.

We need a show. Netflix, number one trending show right now. It's really good. It's a crime. It's a thriller. It keeps on your toes. The other one that we went to the red carpet premiere for was The Rip. That was with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

That was really interesting. I heard Matt Damon to do an interview. He was saying that so many people are on their phones these days while watching a movie that they now have to re-explain the plot four or five times in a script. So he would read his script. He's like, why do we bring this up again? They're like, well, the attention span of the consumer is so low. Right now we have to continue to reestablish the plot.

Isn't that crazy? That's disgusting. And it might be really hard for someone like that who's like life is in the film industry. And it's like I'm really, it's like I got to cater it to these people now. these people who can't even lock in for two hours. Yeah, wild stuff. I actually saw something the other day that Brooks Nader and Ben Affleck. We're having a little, how do you do?

Do you see that? I did see that. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting what goes on on our TVs and our and our TikToks and our movie theaters and someone who should be in a movie theater with a lifetime doc. Mike the situation. Mike the situation.

That's a good transition. I'll tell you what. The people are buzzing about episode one. And I would say, you guys will hear in the recap. We'll talk about it. But I would tell you that part two is even better. I agree. 100%.

Yeah. All right. Well, David, the last thing I got is JTA. People are dying to know when we're doing JTA. I'm getting DMs every single day about it. Here's what I'm going to say. It's always better when David and I do it in person. So we've been working really hard to try and schedule in person.

It doesn't look like that's going to come to fruition. The only time they can come to fruition is if you can come to Miami this week, as I'll be down there for a work event and potentially Tyler Cameron's charity event. and then the week after the Super Bowl, I'm actually going to be, I got a photo shoot. So more to come on that, but I'll be in New York City.

And so if you can do that, great, if not, we got to do a virtual. I think we're going to deadline it, maybe. If we can't, since it's my episode, it's JTA, but I'm the host. I'm thinking if we can't do it by my birthday, we do a little birthday, JTA, 39th birthday, February 17th, hit the record button.

I think that's a good deadline for the list. this. I like that. Yeah. Okay. February 17th. All right. February 17th is a deadline. But enough of our deadlines in our talk. Let's ring in the bell to the one, the only. Part two with the mic, the situation. The who? The mic. The situation. The who is the situation. You ever see that clip? Yes. All right. Let's ring in the bell. You get through it all. You're out of prison. We're going down the timeline. Now, how much money do you have like to your name? Once you're out of Oh my God. Yeah, I really didn't have much.

I was really in the rebuilding process when I got at a prison. Luckily, MTV was following my story the whole time. So there were some concerns that if the ratings weren't good, you just don't get another season. But fortunately for me and all of the cast to Jersey Shore, our ratings were always good. Yeah. So you're going to get another season. You kept getting another season. You kept getting another season.

And the pay just kept going up. The pay just kept going up. And I kept, you know, building myself. Essentially, my success can be carefully mapped from my sobriety. My 10 years of sobriety is pretty much saying that I've 10 years of amazing decisions. Makes sense. Yes. 10 years of amazing decisions and being my best self and at the end of the day, let go and let God handle the rest. Yeah.

And that is my superpower. So you're making all this money. You go to prison. You start fresh. You get sober. And now you're, I mean, everything is moving in the right direction. I want to talk quickly about love and money with your marriage. You talked about the fact that it's one of the biggest business decisions to make.

Tell me your take on the idea of how you manage love and money. Are you four or against pre-numps? Just your overall take on love and money. Me and my wife have known each other for over 20 years. And we don't have a pre-nup. She's my college sweetheart. And she makes me a better person. We've been now married over seven years now in a happy, healthy marriage.

And we have three beautiful children. and I couldn't be prouder of everything that encompasses that. When it comes to love and money, it really comes from my sobriety, my principles of my sobriety, which I also carry through in every aspect of my life, which would be accountability, transparency, integrity, and honor. So if you carry those four principles in business, in marriage, in friendship, you're going to be very, very successful. Yeah.

And my wife, she has all of my passwords for all of my social media. So if someone is messaging me, my wife is getting it. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? And early in my career, you know, risk-gay photos would be sent. They'd be sent to my wife. You know, now not so much because I'm this family man. Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? And I have, you know, these various businesses. But in the beginning of my career, it definitely was an adjustment. But I wouldn't change a thing because life is, life is so much easier when you're not trying to hide anything. Yeah, for sure. You know? So, you know, my wife can go through my Facebook, my Twitter, you know, X or everything.

And, you know, I have nothing to hide. So I think that's one of your money rules with love and money is transparency. Yes. Right? If there's transparency, there's no gray area. If there's no gray area, there's just pure authenticity, which is the state you live at. At all times. Even in business, any contracts we come through, any partnerships, those are the principles that we preach.

I want to talk about your businesses at current before I get there. When you look at your earnings, you think about like athletes. Like so with when I started, actually it's so funny, in 2018 I go on my first reality show. And the first thing I did was getting, I couldn't really afford the accountant, but I was like, I don't care. I'm getting the accountant because I saw what happened to you.

And I was like, I don't know. Like this is my, you know, especially you do bar appearances. They give you cash. Yeah. You're like, I don't, and I was in finance. I didn't even know about it. I didn't even know that, you know, all that stuff is tracked. Actually, let me ask you while I'm on the bar appearances.

And I was getting like $30,000, you know, an appearance. I was going to ask you. Sometimes 50 on New Year's. So you get like 50K on New Year's. On New Year's. On New Year's. Well, they give you half up front and sometimes they wire the other half. Yeah.

But yeah, it was just ridiculous, you know, for at least from 2009 to 15 probably. Even when I was starting to get sober, I was the face of Suboxin. which is from a drug company. I believe it's Merck. And, you know, the endorsement on that was a cool, easy half a mill. Right. You know, yeah. It's crazy.

I mean, these are the things that you're on top. But like the accountant would be like, we're going to manage you kind of like a manager like a mini athlete. Like we'll probably have the short window of high earnings and then it's going to go away. So like that's how we're going to manage it. My question, and then you see some athletes like Rob Bernkowski, his earnings probably right now are higher than they've ever been because of popularity and things.

So you're getting into a new year and it begins and you're trying to get your business operations together. And honestly, having payroll, benefits, and HR handled in one place makes everything feel so much better. So if you are trying to get organized and get settled and you are just getting your business off the ground, let me give you a trading secret. You want to make sure that you are outsourcing in the places that you have to outsource. Gusto is an online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all in one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from literally anywhere. Automatic payroll tax filing, simple direct deposits, health benefits, commuter benefits,

workers' comp, 401K, you name it, Gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget. Take the things off your plate that don't need to be on your plate as a small business owner. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash trading secrets and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll. Just go to gusto.com slash trading secrets. One more time here, just go to gusto.com slash trading secrets. When you look at your career, how do your earnings compare today to like when literally Jersey Shore was the number one global rally show in the world? Well, the earnings the last couple years have been amazing.

Because we eventually fought for six figures an episode. Let's go. Okay. And that is where you want to be. But our episode count every year was like around, I think, like 30. Oh, shit. Yeah. They would do two seasons a year, right?

And so you would have an A and B season, and each season would be about 15 episodes. And so now I have 30 episodes. And then you have probably a reunion and then maybe a special, right? So you're on TV, right? 32 weeks out of 50? That's like 80% of the year. And I'm just saying, maybe it's 75% or 80% of the year.

And the checks just keep rolling. But listen, myself and the cast, we've worked hard. And everyone did favorite nations. Now, for most people that put the work in, that's good. And for people that don't put the work in, you know, it's, you know, not the best. So you have in Congress, like if someone's not bringing it for ratings, Are you guys behind the scenes? Like step your shit up?

Some of us are. Some of the bigger personalities are. There are some bigger personalities. We are, but at the same time, we're family too. Yeah. So it's just like, you know, there's a fine line to, you know, upsetting somebody. I love it. Well, we've gone through majority of your story.

One of the coolest things of your story we've mentioned a lot in this episode is Archangel Centers. You tell us a little bit about how you got involved in what it looks like. Yes. When I first got out of prison, I had a, a me. meeting with my team. And they said, all right, now that you're back out, you got your freedom, what do you want to do? What's on the vision board? Give us anything. And I was like, I want to open up my own treatment center. I want to help people that might be still sick and suffering, or maybe they're in need of a second chance like I once was. Maybe one day I'll have the resources and influence

to have my own center to help people write their own comeback story. Wow. And here we are. Wow. It's amazing. And where are those centers or New Jersey? Yes, we just cut the ribbon on our first center, the Archangel centers in Titten Falls, New Jersey. And our second one should be launching in about 90 days in Princeton, New Jersey. And I'm at the office every day, man, I couldn't, I haven't wore. I've never had my own office. Yeah. Because, you know, I just never had a real job, I guess, as per se. Yeah. I love going to office with a tie and my transcode. And we're just saving lots. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. You can't beat it.

And we talked a little bit about before this episode, but with the speed that you've been working for so long, what else? Like I think when you start to burn out, you've got to find things that really, like putting new gasoline in an engine, and like what better way to do it. Yeah.

Well, what happened was we launched that book right there, reality check, how I overcame addiction loss in prison. And it was a best seller. Okay? And we had seven figures in sales. And we're like, oh, my God. And we had so many people reach out

and say that your story inspires me to be better. And then I'm like, wait a second, I think we're on to something. And then that's when I decided to launch the center. That's awesome. When you look in the future and predict what's going to happen with the center, what's the goal? What's the vision? The vision is to spread Archangel centers across the United States and maybe globally.

Let's go. Yeah. Every single person that I run into contact with, either a professional, they want to collaborate. Somebody wants to donate. Someone wants to work there. Someone wants their sister or their mother or their brother to meet me because I have this influence that no one else has. I've been in America's living room on their TVs for 16 years. And I take that love very seriously.

And with great power comes great responsibility. And now I'm using that love to help people and to save lives. And it says I feel like I'm walking in my purpose right now and I just feel like I can't lose. I love it. It's such a refreshing, powerful energy you carry with you. It's unbeatable. Now let's quickly talk about the book. You gross over seven figures, a million dollars plus. You couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. First of all, we've talked a lot on this podcast, I guess about the hardships of selling books. To sell seven figures in a book is unprecedented. It's outlying. It's very unconventional. Some of the biggest, biggest celebrities, biggest names,

biggest politicians, they don't sell a million bucks. I was surprised. Crushed it. Now you're talking about doing a documentary, with it or a potential show. Yes, we have a deal. Congrats. That's sweet. Yes, we have a deal going into 2026 with ITV, the makers of Love Island. Yeah. Oh, sick. And we're trying to take what is on those pages and bring it to life because the stories in that book is just, they're just, it's like the wolf of Wall Street with a better ending. I love it. ITV. Guys, stay tuned for that. Then we got Bain, I mean, your list just doesn't end. You're a machine. Bain cookies, six locations right now. Tell me about how you got in the cookie business and where people can get the bang cookies.

I'm going to try one while you're telling me. Yes, those cookies are amazing. They are organic and they're called bang cookies because they're banging. Yeah, we have six locations and our seventh is on the way, I believe, in Oklahoma. And over the past couple years, I guess people have been watching me and seeing the work. And we ended up partnering with bang cookies. And now it's just grown across the country. I couldn't be happier.

Quick break from Mike, the situation episode. You started a business. You didn't expect to become the head of literally everything. Now you're doing everything. Marketing, customer service, and IT with no support staff. Well, stop doing everything because that is not contributing to what you're doing. That's the most important, which is driving your business. So instead of spending weeks, sorting through random resumes, here's what you're going to do.

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So it's all about cookies and comebacks right now. Cookies and comebacks, baby. Social media monetization, if you had to look at the last couple of years, how much money are you making on social media? We used to have a Facebook deal, and we used to get, I don't know, like $15,000 a month

just to let them use the Facebook. But now we don't really necessarily need to do that. We have a lot of good numbers on all of our platforms. We have $4.2 million on Facebook. We have 3.5 on Instagram. We have roughly around 600,000 on threads, 1.2 million on TikTok. And then actually so funny. I just jumped on LinkedIn.

And I'm probably more excited to jump on that than anything else because I've never had a real job before. And now that I own these centers and bang cookies and all these businesses, I'm constantly trying to link up with the professionals, which is really, really cool. I love it. You got a million things going on. So back then, obviously, you know, if your team, a little light. That's why you ran into some of those issues. What does your financial team look

like today? I got a pretty deep team right now. I have the accountant. I have the lawyer, publicist manager. Also, I have the financial advisor, which is very important. And I don't even touch the money now. I haven't stepped foot in a bank in 10 years. Wow. Because that was one of the nails in the coffin for my case, maybe many, many years ago. They said that I came into the bank and the structuring. The structure. Yes, sir. He did his homework. He did his homework. That was like the last little leg thing. That was the nail in the coffin when they sent the superseding indictment to me.

So maybe it's PTSD or maybe it's superstitious. I don't step foot in a bank. It goes from my wife and the financial advisor and the attorneys. And I walk around like I have no money and I'm hustling all day long to get another deal. Do you ever find that you talk openly about your finances in your book everywhere, you're doing it here? I've seen you do another podcast. Do you ever worry about like people like suing you or trying to find ways to get?

Oh, well, I mean, listen, right now I keep my side of the street very clean. Yeah. So it's very, very hard to sue someone that walks around, right, in these streets with accountability, transparency, honor, and integrity. It's very, very hard. I mean, how can you get somebody that wears one mask all the time? Yeah. You know, and again, people are willing to try to get you. They're trying to pull you down.

they will. I know if if I was in a candy store and I walked out with a Snickers, I'd be on TMZ. Yeah. You know? So I just keep my side of the street clean. And if you keep your side of the street clean, it's hard for bad things to happen to you. Profound. I mean, it's unbelievable your story, Mike. I appreciate you coming on and telling us all about it, the ins and outs, the learning lessons. I feel like, you know, you said that the curious cat gets killed. Yeah. I feel like you're a cat in the fact you've lived. You've live nine lives, but each of these nine lives has been for a purpose, like a purpose for you,

and now a purpose for the millions of people that you're impacting. And it doesn't get better than that. And that's why you got the platform you did because you deserve it and you're making great change. But we got to wrap with the trading secrets. Something specific to you. Can't learn from a professor. Can't read in a textbook or TikTok tutorial only from Mike the situation. What can you leave us with? I would have to say that my trade secrets or my superpower is my sobriety. and it's because of my sobriety, I carry around these principles in every area of life, in love, in money, in business, the honor, integrity, transparency, and accountability.

And that's a foreign language for people that are not living right, you know? Yeah. So, you know, and my sobriety or, you know, the type of personality that I had, addiction almost killed me. Right? but I turned it all around. The new year is here, so get back into an at-home routine that you love. Elevate your space.

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So what are you going to do? Get organized and refreshed and get back on track this year for way less. Just head to wayfair.com right now. Shop all things. That's w-a-y-a-I-R-com. Wayfair, every style, every home. is always greater than setback. One quick follow-up. Do you remember the moment you realize, like, I have a serious problem? I need help. Yes, yes.

I had a come-to-God moment in 2015. My lawyers had informed me that I had spent $1 million on their fees and they were leaving me. I spent $600,000 on drugs. The landlord sent the letter and said, you're three months behind on your rent and I'm evicting you. I had let my dreams slip through my fingers due to decision, indecision. And I was just depressed in a really bad spot.

And so I wanted to get out of that spot, right, mentally. So I called up a friend and I said, hey, can we score some pills? And so he's like, listen, we sure can. We're going to Newark. I said, all right, cool. I don't think I can go to Newark. I'm like the situation. And he said, don't worry, stay in the car.

I said, listen, if a cop sees me in Newark, they're going to arrest this really quickly because everyone knows who I am. We went anyway. I was there for about two hours. I'm sweating bullets. And he comes back to the car. He said, we're good. And I had a side of relief. Like, okay, all this time was not to waste.

And then he throws something on my lap, and I caught it. And it wasn't pills. And I looked at it. and it was a bundle of heroin. And in that moment, I was like, oh, no, I'm going to try heroin for the first time. And I always told myself that I was never going to do that. And you always heard stories about people that tried heroin and never came back. You heard stories about people overdosing and dying, right?

I get home, I see my girlfriend, and she knows I was up to know. good, but I was able to escape and go into my room. I locked the door. And now I'm like, you know what, I'm just going to try this, because if I don't try this, I'm going to go through withdrawals. And withdrawals means you're going to get sick, right? So I go in to try it for the first time. And I had a little bit of shame there. You know, I can't believe I'm doing this right now, but I got to. So I go in and I try the first bump, right? A little bit, because I've never tried it before and I don't want to die, right? I try it. And, you know, I try it. And, I didn't like it.

I'm like, wow, I don't like this. But then there was a devil on my shoulder who said, you know what, you might like it if you try a little bit more. But really put some more on that key, right? So I'm like, okay, I go in to try the second one. And as I did that, my phone rang. And it was my mom. And I just couldn't believe that it was my mother.

Because on one hand, I had the heroin, which was the devil. and on the other hand was an angel, was my mother. And I just couldn't reconcile that this was happening in the moment. So I stopped what I was doing with my right hand and I picked up and I said, hello. And my mom had this urgency in her voice. And she said, I know something's wrong. Are you okay? And that's when it really hit me.

I was like, oh my God, this is so crazy right now. This is a come to God moment. someone is trying to speak to me. You know, my eyes and my ears were open just enough to receive the message from the Almighty. And within a split second, someone is banging on the door. It was my second angel. That was my girlfriend, and she was trying to break down the door. And at that moment, I just said, you know what?

I got to listen to the Almighty. Someone's trying to save me. And so I said, Mom, I got to go. I love you. and I went to the bathroom and I flushed the drugs down the toilet. I had a tear coming down my eyes and I opened the door. I embraced my then-girlfriend, who's now my wife, and I told her that I had a problem.

And that moment she hugged me and she said, okay, I called my pretrial officer the next two minutes within a minute. I didn't wait. And I told the pre-trial officer or the government, I have a problem. I went into rehab the next day. And long story short, I'm now 10 years clean and sober, and I own my own centers now, called Park Angel Centers.

Unbelievable. It is one of the most, like, powerful stories ever told on this podcast. And thank you for sharing that. And I think, you know, the trading secrets I continue to learn from you is vulnerability creates connection. Yes, sir. And then that connection allows people to tap within and look in the mirror and be true to themselves. And everything you're doing every single day is going to impact so many people from, the living rooms that they were watching you in.

And you just also think about like your kids. Like they're going to be able to be like, that's my fucking dad. I'm so proud of that, man. Dad's an inspiration. It's awesome. Well, man, thank you so much for being here on Trading Secrets. This was beautiful.

It was awesome. You got so much going on. Where can people find everything? Yeah. You guys can go to Mike the Situation on Facebook, Mike the situation on Instagram. It's the situation on X. It's the situation on

TikTok and also check out archangelcenters.com, this new treatment center that we are going around and saving lives. And if you or someone that you know is suffering from the disease of addiction, please reach out to me. We can help. I love it. Don't forget LinkedIn, too. Oh, my God. LinkedIn. I'm all over LinkedIn, brother. We got a sign book to give away. Give us five stars. Your biggest takeaway from this episode and we will ship it to you, Mike's situation. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much, brother. You killed it. I wasn't, I wasn't sure that I was going to break down like that, but it was a really powerful story. It was beautiful. It was a very special too.

It was beautiful and it was authentic. So thank you for coming out, man. Thanks for having me, guys. Ding, ding, ding! We are closing the bell to the situation episode. So much action, two parts, millions and millions of impressions online, tons of comments. People were just absolutely buzzing. David, one of your favorite episodes, we just ended with the tears, that heartfelt story from the situation.

How are you feeling? What do you think and talk to me? I mean, I got to double down because it was, like I said, it was the favorite episode that we've ever had. And so I'm reiterating that. If you haven't tuned into the first recap, it was a little rushed in the airport. I'm glad we get to just kind of dive into it a little bit here.

Like you said, it ends with a tear-jurking moment and story. And the thing I love about that, Jay, you were ready to sign off. That's very rare. Do we get the story like that after the training secret and the little bit of substance there? Just what a way to cap it off, an unbelievable episode.

And what I will say, too, to speak to Mike and where he's at, and he's got to be the person who's collabed, shared on posts and getting helping, getting his story out there in this episode, all around, he's just, he's just been, the episode was awesome and he's been awesome since. That's my biggest takeaway. Absolutely. I mean, he's been sharing everything. Nice guy.

I've been sharing DMs. Unbelievable. That was a heartfelt moment at the end of the podcast. Obviously, he got into it. You know, David, I was going to talk about how I got completely screwed over in Jersey Shore. I mean, I was playing in a charity event football game. After the game, they're like, hey, you played great. Everyone here is going to sign the contract because we were just filming.

You're cool with that or whatever, right? They just kind of shoved this iPad in my face. And I was like, is everyone signed this? They're like, yeah. So I was just like, okay, sure. Then I found out they made a freaking storyline about it. I was going to get into it. But with that heartfelt story, I was like, I couldn't.

And he, but I talked to him after he's like, oh, yeah, you got cooked. They literally made nothing. Got something out of nothing. It's like, absolute. You think, Mike, the situation has any sympathy for you. That guys, that guys had to sell his life to this show. He's like, come on. You step in my, you step in my ring.

That's what you get, you know. Come on. We're Jersey Shore here. That's what we do. Unbelievable. Just complete nonsense. But, um, it was. I would much rather hear his story than your, than your story anyway.

Yeah, mine was, you know, mine was insignificant, stupid course to sign a piece of paper, had no idea what the hell was going on it. or nine months later and it was all nonsense. There's a trading secret. Don't sign iPads when they get put in front of your face. I don't care who they are. You never sign a contract unless you have some review it. That's the lesson I learned.

Back to this part two, though. What did you think? I mean, like, there is a lot here. You know, there was a lot of, obviously in episode one, we talked a lot about the contracts and how much they were paid and all of that. And this episode, we talked a lot about, you know, his time in prison. We talked about his lawyer fees. We talked about, you know, his addiction.

how he stared at dead in the eyes and he references the devil and the angel. I mean, talk to me about some of your takeaways. Yeah, I mean, my biggest takeaway from the whole episode, and I think I even mentioned this in the first recap, was his four principles of sobriety that he has in his life of accountability, transparency, integrity, and honor because everything in his life goes back to that. But I think for this, I mean, how do we not touch on the prison? The fact that he was like thriving in prison, the fact that he talked a little bit about, you know, how to move in prison, the fact he'd give us a little bit of insight in how currency works and his trade in prison.

Again, like why it's my favorite episode, we got some of everything. We got like a full, we've never had a drug dealer on, a stripper on, and someone who's been to jail and then someone who's made millions off reality TV and then someone who told the story about when he was trying heroin for the first time and, you know, divine intervention and came in on his shoulders and his mom. I mean, this is the best episode we've ever had. So I don't know where to start. I always know where to start.

Jay, I don't know where to start. I just want to talk about the whole thing. It's the thing. I mean, I was so curious about all that. I could have been a four-hour episode. But yeah, like, you think about it's really interesting to see, like, how his life has gone in these, like, very distinct chapters. But, like, each of the chapters connects to one another.

It's like so prolific. Like, when he was a drug dealer, his skill sets is a drug. drug dealer allowed him to navigate the works of prison. And his time in prison and through addiction allowed him to create these recovery centers and take ownership the way he does. And the idea that's really stuck in my head, like when you think about this concept of trust, just like trust and confidence, it reminds me a lot about what you say with choices, but also it's like, it's like if you don't trust yourself, you'll never trust anyone. If you're feeling imposter syndrome, you need to be more disciplined with your choices.

Like, if you just look within, you're open and honest with everyone and yourself, all those things will come together. Well, don't, isn't it so beautiful to know and see someone like Mike's situation who's had, some people could say he's had it made, he's had it great, but also people can look and be like, that guy's had it worse, or he's had it the worst, right? In so many situations, even how he's portrayed and his name, how his name was being spoke on. it's just so amazing to see him so prideful.

Like he is, he is proud. That is a proud human being. He is proud of himself. He is proud of people in his life. He is proud of his wife. He is proud of his kids. He is living a life of pride.

And if you are, if you are God and you are looking down on people in this world, like not everybody is perfect in everything they do. They are sinners, but he is repented. And he is like, he's a proud member of society who is shedding life. shedding light and grace on

and trying to make himself and others better. And I just think that like the whole, my feelings of this whole episode, I just came back like enlightened of him and proud of who he is and wanting to feel that a little bit about that in my life and take some things that maybe I can do better and we all can do better because

I don't think anybody listening, hopefully, was in a rock pot of position like his. And look where he's at, man. It just, to me, it's just, it was really inspiring. Yeah, that story too. Inspiring is probably the number one word I think about it, but that story, man, he's such a good storyteller. Like when he's talking about how he's like, I needed drugs and my buddy's like, we got

to go to New Jersey. You're like, yeah, I can't go to New Jersey, man. We're going to get caught. And like, even him telling the story, like, I pulled my hat out and we get in the car. I'm like, he's going to get caught. Didn't get caught. But then he got it. And it was heroin.

He didn't know what to do. It's, I mean, he was, it was just. The guy's an entertainer, man. So, ITV, the creators or the network that does Love Island is doing his documentary. Did that surprise you at all from that, from like of all the documentaries that could be done and ITV, which is, I feel like it's not very well known in the United States. Yeah, ITV is the production company, kind of like with Bachelor, production companies, NZK, they have these different production partners. and then those production partners will work with the networks. Here's the deal.

When you say it out loud like that, does it surprise me? Maybe, yeah. When you look and listen to part one and part two of this podcast, does it surprise me? Hell no. Oh, hell no. I think it, no, it has to be a documentary. I just, for me, maybe this is a good question. Like, ITV, I'm thinking that that airs and it goes international.

It doesn't even hit, like, like, in North America, because I think of ITV as, like, like an international TV production company that only does like Australia and the UK. Yeah, no. I think it's no. I think they're U.S. based. I think they do a bunch of different production. I think they have a bunch of shows.

A lot of these production companies, too, they'll just like do a shit ton of productions and then they'll see which one pops. So is it going to be like on Netflix, do you think? It will probably be sold to one of the networks they work with. I don't know who I TV if they only have contracts with certain networks. if they'll pitch it out to everybody. Peacock. Well, you know what's weird about Love Island

is it's on multiple different networks. It's on Hulu and Peacock. And maybe even Netflix, too, depending on this. We should do an episode, like, on all the networks because there's so much like behind the scenes intertwined of who owns what. And it's very, it's, it's, it's relatively convoluted. Like ESPN owning Disney and BBC.

exactly yeah that'd be interesting yeah it'd be interesting a little instagram tutorial yeah get a little network executive on yeah yeah i was just actually recently in the netflix office with the head of unscripted had a meeting with him and like i would love for someone like that to come on to talk about all those things did you see the climber did you see the climber this past week the guy who went i mean like what yeah it's just there's just not an adrenaline gland in his body right i funny you say that i was actually reading about the climber um apparently the they did a bunch of tests and studies on him. And like he actually doesn't have the feet,

like, whatever makes us like feel fear. He like doesn't possess it. There's, you can't. So yeah, like he, they did some tests where they would put like,

you know, did you ever get tested back in elementary school? And it's like abstract photos. It's like, what do you see here? And if you see like something, then you're like a genius. They put a bunch of like images and things in front of them

and during testing and like all the fearful images like didn't register with him at all. Like apparently he has like, he's not, he doesn't know what fear is. We should get him on the podcast. Well, we have to get him on the podcast. I think we could. Did you see the part where he was 1,400 or 1,000 feet in the air and he was, he put, went no hands?

Yeah. Like, just for funsies? Like, now you're just showing off. I would like to see the Vegas odds. What do you think the Vegas odds were that like it didn't work out? Well, I got another question. That's a good point. Like is it 1% or is it like 50%?

Yeah. Are you like are you going to that? Because the people who go to that and watch that are sick. Like because you're going. I'm sorry. Like you're not going to see him do it. Like no you're going to watch. It's like you know when the house is burning and you stop to watch like you're not.

Like you're going there to like you're going there to see some. You're going to see some. And the thing is is when you're watching. A normal human response is when you see it online, I'm like, turn it off. I'm getting sick. I can't watch this. Like you care. You're just like an empathetic compassion.

I can't. I'm going to like, I'm going to puke. If one gust of wind comes, this guy's falls in a minute. I can't. I can't. So like, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, no.

He was nuts. And now, unfortunately, for the guy or maybe fortunately, it's like, all right, what's next? What's the next tallest building? And eventually. It's crazy. It's crazy. Do you have anything else? I got one line in the mic the situation that it's highlighted here.

And it was a, it was a, it hit, it hit me this line. Okay. Not because it really hit me because it resonated, but it hit me because we've all kind of been there before. Yeah. You said, life is so much easier when you're not trying to hide something. Mm. Right? I mean, I think we've all been there, man.

Like, we've all been there as a kid where we're hiding it from our parents and fuck is that stressful. Mm. Maybe it's that you didn't, maybe it's, you, you failed a test. in this or you know big picture stuff like i mean you've all done it with friends we've all done it with our co-workers we've done it with our spouses to some degree right and when you're not and you could tell with how opening up front he is the one thing i really respected was like i truly don't think that guy has any secrets that he hasn't told his wife oh 100% zero and i think that goes back to what i was talking about trust in that whole idea of trust we actually had a leadership

coach, shout out to Laura, come into our agency and talk about this theme of trust. I think people use the word trust a little too seriously and the fact that like there's like, oh, I don't trust you. That means I don't like, I don't have any faith in you or like you're a liar. No, that's not like what the theme of this trust was every day and every instant, things happen, actions happen where there might be like a rope and there could be small breakage and trust, right? Like something like you tell one of your operations people to get something done for a

tournament and let's just say it gets done like 70%. You don't distrust them as human, but you start to learn, you start to have, let's just say, some negativity aligned with their trust in that execution. And this idea of like, how do we get people to trust us? And then what do what makes us trust other people? And we like wrote it down and just got really honest with it. And it was just an interesting exercise to think about like trust to me means like consistency and accuracy and and detail and being thorough and follow through, right? But trust to someone else can mean something else. And then it's like, well, how do you show up to your peers with trust?

And if you have breakage and trust, how do you get connected with it? So I thought that was kind of cool. And it does just align a little bit with the situation. And what he's saying is like, if you can't be honest with yourself, then you're going to always have trust as an issue with yourself and with others. I love that. I love that activity. My eyes were closed there thinking about how I look at trust.

and ways that we've talked about trust on this podcast a little bit as an example. I think trust for me is obviously it's an action, not a word. I think for me to be able to trust you, you have to prove to me that you've listened to not just something that I've said, but something that other people have said and you've reacted at not just in that moment, but a given time in the future where you care. Like for me to trust you, I have to know that you care genuinely for me or somebody or the thing that has been, you know, talked about or shown as important before. I think that's how you earn my trust.

And I think we've talked about trust like, you know, on this podcast in terms of like love and money, like financial mistrust. And, you know, you've talked a lot about like different forms of, you know, cheating and with cheating with money. money and I think that those things as well are come up in relationships all the time like you know what what husband doesn't have the cash that is in an envelope that the wife doesn't know about so that you can go to the casino right like that like that's trust don't hope Ashley doesn't hear this episode right um like I have that right let's just talk about it so it's just like fuck should I like I'm spinning here it's like Mike the situation's not hiding something and I'm hiding something You got to go ask you that envelope.

I got to, yeah, or I got to go like, what am I going to do? Now I'm guilty because I had the emblems. I got to go buy our bag. Like, fuck me, right? So it's like, you know, so that's just these things. I listen to these podcasts, Jane, it hits me. And that thing just hits me now. Well, it's interesting how you, how trust shows up for you, right?

Like what I heard was for you to trust someone, you have to know they're listening. You have to know they care about your interests and like what matters to you. And you have to know that they're willing to take accountability. Like they're willing to show up and take accountability if it's not right and hear you and then also really care. So that shows up different for people. Like what trust means shows up different for people. And it's not even me. Like it doesn't have to be like you have to listen to me.

It's like I can build trust from you by my observation of you from others, right? Sometimes that's almost a better way where it even allows me to know that I could trust you without even having to do the experiment myself. I love that through observation. That's good. Another one that we did in that leadership thing I thought was really cool was one word check in. So like before we start the podcast, give me one word, how you're feeling. And based on that word, whether it's like sad, lonely, happy, energized, dialed, frustrated, angry, whatever, like we're going to adjust our working. Like, we're going to customize how we work and how we communicate. Like so if I'm having a feedback session or I'm having a coaching session with one of my place, like one word, just want to check in how you're doing. If they tell me they're sad, my delivery is going to be a lot different than if they show up and they're like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. so focus, give me feedback, right? So just like one word check-ins. Like, how are you feeling? One word. I've been saying the same two words for the last three months,

and I hate myself for it. What are they? Busy and tired. How's it going? Busy. I'm tired. Well, now I have reasons, right? Two kids.

Got the two kids. Promotion. Promotion changes, leadership changes, middle of hockey season. Those make me very busy. those make me tired. You know what else they make me? Huh. Fucking fired up. Most motivated I've ever been.

Productive. Like, staff management, like, cohesiveness. Talk about trust. Like, I go to work every day. I've been at the office the longest I've ever been out. It's by choice. And everyone else is by choice. And we are fired up. So sometimes it's so cliche. It's like busy and tired. But really, it's like,

I don't know. Sometimes we say busy and tired because we don't actually want to talk about what's going on. that's just like an excuse of like don't even ask because if I was like, how are you doing? I'm like, I'm like, I'm so fired out. Yeah. People are going to be like, why?

Tell me more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes we don't want to open the door to a conversation. Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I will tell you, the older I get, the less I am open to small talk. Oh, it's so unproductive. But I even said on this podcast recently, something I need to do a better job of is like,

someone checks in and asks me how I'm doing? It's like, you go, I need to start, you know, how are the kids. Oh, you know, my kids are great. It's like, how are your kids or how's this or what, you know, like making sure you take the time because you don't like small talk just to rebuttal and find out how how people are doing as well. That's something that is I've gotten busier in life. I've done a worse job of and I hate that too. Interesting. I'm just being the shit out of myself.

No, I think that's good. I think that's good to be like, listen, if I'm going to engage, the only thing that's worth engaging is in the present, staying present, right? Like I saw this, it's, there's this thing on my algorithm that's showing up a lot and it's picture's worth a million words. And the picture was a dad and a son on the bench. And the bubble of the dad was thinking and there was a car, there was a house, there was money, there was a desk, there was work. So he's on the bench, his kids next to him.

And it's like what he's thinking, right? And then what the son is just smiling ear to ear. And his bubble, what he's thinking is just his dad next to him and him on the bench. And it's like, these things are worth a million words. So it's like if you're going to be present, if you're, you're going to have those conversations, like be in them. So yeah, yeah, I think, I think that hits home. That hits home, right?

It was great. I saw that one today. It was that one. Yeah. That hits home. Stay present, right? All right. I think that's all I got.

We've been going. Yeah, we have. That was a good stretch. Good stretch. Mike, the situation. You're bringing the best out of us now in intros and recaps. What an unbelievable episode. One of the best of trading secrets.

We got Amanda Batula. just recorded with. We are working on that getting that approved and out. Jesse Solomon. We have some other Netflix stars coming on. Hillary Musser. And just have a really good lineup here scheduled. We had the president of the Chicago Fed. So a lot of action, a lot of good guests. But we got JTA coming up too. David, anything else before I wrap? We got a deadline. February 17. They'll be out before that or we'll find a way to do it in person. But what's your plan tonight? How are you going to stay warm?

Babe, how are we going to stay warm tonight? Nah, you just answered the question for yourself. We're going to have a little cuddle sash there, David. You know what I'm saying? Are the dogs in the bed or do the dogs, how do you guys do the dog thing? I think, no, typically the dogs will go in their crates, but I think today we'll take all the warmth in the bed. They're for sure sleeping in the bed. Yeah, it's too cold.

We'll cuddle up. Little cuddle session here. Oh, I want to say list last. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of the things I've noticed with Dry January is socializing. I, my window for socializing has become a lot smaller. Okay, so I will still like, we'll do dinners. I'll go do all that, right?

And I'll do like three, like we were at dinner the other day. It was like three or at dinner for like three, four hours. Typically after that, we'd go out for a drink or like nightcap. When I'm not drinking, I'm so down to socializing. and I'm going to bring everything I would normally bring. But once I hit my window of like I'm done, I'm done. Where when I'm drinking, I can socialize for like, I don't, like a full day. You know, I could do like a bar day, go to dinner, da-da-da-da.

But like when I'm like, okay, well, this is great. But my cup's full, I'm good. I'm out. I don't know what that is. But I know we were talking about socializing earlier. But yeah. Yeah. I don't know what that means.

So is Us Weekly talking about your dry January, which I don't know how that makes any headlines. Yeah. well there we are it does you're still doing that dry january still doing it man are you you didn't see the tommy john photos you didn't think i was pretty dialed that's not topy john photos there's all tomm john photos not bad not some of your best work i'm not i'm not i'm like i'm i'm oh man i don't even know what kind of january i haven't haven't haven't not it hasn't been dry it hasn't been clean it hasn't been it's not been

great but it's okay you had a theme for this year that you were going to? No. Okay. Let's start with February. Let's get a theme. Okay. I'll work on that.

Work on a theme. Guys, give us a theme. We got stuff to give away. I got merch. I got some stuff from the PR closet. So give us a theme in the comments. Yeah, I like that.

Okay. The theme it is. What else? I don't know. I'm just going to be that guy in your photo. And I'm going to be not thinking about work. And when my son's thinking about me, I'm just going to grab the mini stick and just rip it with them.

I like that. Think about when he's playing the minisk, all his bubble is you in the minisk. That's it. And he's happy. I just had to cut him out of this podcast because you want to play baseball. That was it. Peace is being in the present, anxiety is in the future. Let's go.

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