Trading Secrets - 288. Jesse Solomon: Summer House, 7-Figure Creator & Turning Fame Into a Business

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

This week, Jason is joined by Jesse Solomon — reality TV star, creator, investor, and now touring musician — for a conversation on what happens when your life, income, and identity all scale at once.After first appearing on Summer House, Jesse shares how his career has rapidly evolved over the last 18 months — walking away from a traditional finance path and stepping fully into the world of entertainment, social media, and entrepreneurship. What started as a TV opportunity has turned into a multi-million dollar business, fueled by brand deals, investments, and a growing digital platform.Jesse breaks down the financial side of fame — from crossing seven figures in annual income to landing brand deals worth six figures for just a handful of posts. He explains how the creator economy really works behind the scenes, why attention is the most valuable asset you can have, and how he’s thinking about long-term wealth through a mix of traditional investments, crypto, and startup equity.He also opens up about the less glamorous side of the business — the pressure of constantly being “on,” the unpredictability of income, and the reality that everything can change overnight.Beyond the numbers, Jesse dives into the mental shift that’s come with being in the public eye — learning to deal with criticism, letting go of validation, and becoming more comfortable being fully himself on and off camera. He reflects on how his mindset has evolved from needing approval to focusing on authenticity, and why that’s been the key to both personal and professional growth.Jesse also shares a transparent look into his newest venture: music. Despite making millions elsewhere, he explains why he’s currently losing money pursuing it — investing heavily in production, touring, and development — and why he sees it as a long-term bet on himself. From sold-out shows that still lose money to the grind of building a fanbase from scratch, he breaks down what it really takes to chase a passion at scale.Jason and Jesse also get into lifestyle and money habits — from why he chooses renting over buying, to how he avoids lifestyle creep despite increasing income, and the importance of maintaining financial discipline even when money is flowing.On the personal side, Jesse opens up about dating, relationships, and what he’s looking for in a partner, as well as how his perspective on life has shifted years after battling cancer — allowing him to live more freely, take bigger risks, and think long-term about his future.From reality TV to real money, and from passion projects to long-term wealth building, Jesse gives a raw and honest look at what it means to capitalize on opportunity while staying grounded through it all.Jesse reveals all this and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!Gusto Try Gusto today at gusto.com/tradingsecrets, and get three months free when you run your first payroll MonarchUse code TRADING at monarch.com for half off your first year. That’s 50% off at monarch dot com code TRADING.Rula  https://www.rula.com/tradingsecrets
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Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets today. We are joined by Jesse Solomon, one of the most talked about personalities on Bravo Summerhouse. You first met Jesse during season eight, but what's really exciting is everything that's happened since. He's filmed multiple additional seasons of Summerhouse, built a rapidly growing platform, and made the bold decision to step into the spotlight fully, leaving his finance career behind, not just as a reality TV personality, but as a career. an entrepreneur and investor and now a touring musician? What the hell? This conversation is about what happens when opportunity compounds quickly. When your career, finances, and personal life

are evolving all at the same time. We're talking about navigating fame with intention, turning attention into leverage, and building a long-term career that goes far beyond one show or one season while dealing with the difficulties of ups, downs, left, and right in the spotlight. Jesse, it is so damn good to have you on trading secrets. Thank you for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah. It's truly a pleasure.

There's not a lot of guys to look up to in this world. So I'm happy to be here. I'm happy to have you as a friend. That's very sweet. Wow. What a nice. I'm happy to have you as a friend too. It's always fun hanging out with you, getting to talk with you business life,

and honestly getting to see you grow. And I think that is such a theme of everything you've done, like with your businesses you've grown, with your brands you've grown. I think with your heart and your mind you've grown, like just you and I have had like deep conversations just about life. It's really cool to see all that. And last time you're on the show was actually June 24. So it's 18 months ago. June 2024.

So there's going to be times in this episode. I reference things you said and I want your take on it. But when we talk about growth, just that 100,000 followers on IG at that time. You now have 269,000. So you're up 169%. I see he got a little 69 in there okay we're still immature wasn't on purpose wasn't on purpose TikTok you had 30,000 followers you now have 109,000 up 350 percent let me ask you when you summarize the last 18 months how would you summarize it in all areas of your life yeah a lot of ups and

downs but I feel like I've learned so much and I've grown so much I've changed as a person I I've clarified what I want to be doing with my life and what I want to be spending time on. So it's just a really exciting time. And it's been so fun. I'm so grateful for everything that's happened. It's happened quickly. So I'm just trying to be present and enjoy it all. Dude, I think that's amazing.

It's a great perspective. I think we have to start at the top of the episode with this because I know there's so many Summer House Bravo fans watching this. Yeah. This episode is being recorded before the premiere on February 3rd. but we know season 10 is coming and we have seen some insane teasers. I don't want you to reference those teasers. I want you to just give me like a head and heart breakdown.

How would you tease season 10 as we're getting ready to watch it all unfold? There was a lot that happened. I think it's going to be just like a lot of action and a lot of storylines, a lot of new people. And just a lot of love and friendship. and it's a show based off of real friends and real relationships. And that's one thing that season eight, Jesse, didn't understand. I was like, how real is reality TV? And now I'm like, this is, it's fucking real.

Like, these are my actual best friends. And I didn't know what to expect going into this whole experience, but it's been just really rewarding. And I think that's what makes our show work is how real it is. Nobody's telling us to do anything. So it's all real conversations. You don't know what to expect. What did you expect going on in The Bachelor?

You can't. You expect the unexpected. That's one. Two, I can say with confidence, the Bachelor is they have such a story to tell in such a small period of time that they have to be able to maneuver it. They have to reach on the dates. They have to ask you the tough questions. What's so interesting about your show when I've got to see it behind the scenes being recorded

is it's exactly what you said. Like when I was there watching you guys film, I've seen now two or three different episodes. I think I was at the Cowboy or the Circus theme party you guys had this year. It's just like life is living. And that's it all unfolds that way, which is pretty, I think that's different than most shows. Yeah, and people like to watch because we're having fun. And they feel like they're having fun with us as opposed to some other shows where it's all about the drama. Yeah.

Forget about your editor what you think it might look like. if you had to summarize your experience based on how you felt season 10 looking back on that, how would you summarize or tease it for us? And it couldn't have gotten any worse than last summer. What goes down must come up. Yeah. It was just a lot of fun. You'll see me date a little bit.

You'll see me open up about mental health and be a little more vulnerable. As you do this more, I think you get better at just being yourself on camera, which is like a skill. Like, I'm always myself, but it can be hard to really open up, especially as a man when you've been taught over the years to bottle up and hold in your emotions to speak freely about them on national television. It can be a scary thing. Yeah, I'm just maturing in my dating life, emotionally, career, everything.

Good for you, man. I love it. I'm excited to see it unfold because it's always fun to watch how you continue to just grow in all hilarious, business, music, passion, and just as a person, it's fucking awesome. I appreciate it. You didn't ask me to sum it up in one word, did you? No, I didn't. No, I didn't.

I know that. I know that you could pontificate too much for that. All right, here's another one I got. Of course, we're going to talk business and all the different areas you're touching, but I'm getting into the deeper, like, mental side of it. If you could sit across from Jesse right now, so assume I'm Jesse right before season eight starts, what would you tell him, like, the worst move that he made was, like either TV or career?

Hey, don't do that. this, this was the worst thing you did. And then conversely, we'll end it with a good feeling. If you talk to him and be like, you did this great, make sure you do it. What would those piece of advice be? I would look back and tell season eight, Jesse, you don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. Just be yourself and life comes at you fast. But you just got to like take it all in and enjoy the journey. And the process and choose the hard thing. Don't always take the easy road. And I would say focusing on music, I think, you know, I was working in finance and wondering like what I was if I was going to, I thought

I'd start a business going on Summer House eventually. But being on the show brought me closer to the entertainment business. And that's like what I studied in college was music. I love doing music when I reflected back on 2025, like the thing that gave me the most joy was being in the studio, writing a song with cool people, talented people. So yeah, it's been like such a blessing and not exactly what I was expecting, but just like glad that I could use what I'm good at. I think one of the hardest things to do in reality TV is you build a platform based on going on the show and then trying to pivot to a passion or even something like, you studied vocal jazz in school.

This is your background. But pivoting to that is like a really challenging thing to do. And one of the reasons it's one of the most challenging thing to do is because the scrutiny that comes with it, right? The people that see you on Summer House that follow you, they don't want to see you go chase some pipe dream by using the platform. What type of like feedback or negativity have you received for that? And how has that impacted like your actual decision in pursuing music now?

Yeah, I've received a lot of hate for singing. And it definitely gives you pause, but I have so much fun. And it brings me so much joy and it feels like what I'm supposed to be doing. So I'm trying to just drown out the haters and do what I love because I've sang my entire life. I've never thought it was like the greatest singer of all time. But I think I'm pretty good. I think you're good. I think I'm a talented songwriter and I've developed that skill.

And even this morning, like Spotify gave me a recommended song. And it was like one of my first songs that I recorded. And I was like, damn, my songwriting has come a long way. So even just like in 18 months, like I've gotten much better. And I know that I have a long way to go. But I'm doing the work. I take voice lessons. I play, take piano lessons.

I practice every day. I write music every day. Yeah, it just feels good. I'm more creative and working in finance and starting a business and doing all that stuff. You get so far away from your creative energy and just like getting back to that has been a really good feeling. And, you know, I'm a developing artist, but I'm doing it in the public eye and it's like a blessing and a curse. But it's way more of a blessing. So I'm just like using the positives of people already liking me for being on Summerhouse to

hope that my music can inspire them and help them do whatever they want to be doing. Look, the economy is a lot right now. And if you're a small business owner, you're probably feeling it. You can't control interest rates, what comes next, inflation, but you can't control how efficiently your business operates. Automating payroll and HR with Gusto is one of the fastest ways to cut friction and focus on what actually moves the needle. Gusto is an online payroll and benefits software built for your business. It's an all-in-one remote-friendly and and incredibly easy to use so you can pay, hire, on board, and support your team from anywhere. Look, I could tell you, as a business owner, reasons I outsourced my payroll in HR through products like

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slash trading secrets. Yeah, I think so many people in life go through it without. taking risk, without taking shots at the fear of what people will say. And I think when people then watch someone do it, it becomes a threat to them because they're longing to do it themselves. So then they push it down, right? Don't sing. And I think the very thing that might be pushing you back is the very thing that might actually be connecting you more with community by inspiring people. Go do what you want to do, right? Don't listen to the noise. People will talk shit. People will say you're cringe people will say these things screw it pursue your passion and that's when you and then once you make it

and you're doing it and you're going on tour and all that stuff that's when you start seeing all the people celebrating congratulating you to you right yeah it's not the journey that people are yelling up and cheering for you it's once you've made it that's what's going to happen let's manifest it and I tell myself all these things like you can rationalize all of it but when you see something about something that you love like what you're passionate about. It stings for a second. And then you think to yourself all those things, oh, this person like isn't confident. They're insecure. They have their own issues. Like, they're writing online about me and my life. Like, why do you care? You can tell yourself all the

things, but it still hurts, obviously, when you hear it. That's, we're going to get into the music business that you're on the touring, some of the money. So stay tuned for that. But while you're on the topic of the comments, you and I have talked personally offline before. And you're like, dude, it doesn't matter when I put it. There's a time, not now, but there was a time that like, it doesn't matter. Like, I could literally do anything. I could like get involved in my philanthropy. I could write a check to like an organization. All I'm going to do is be scrutinized. There's, they're going to find that 5% of what could be wrong with it and then they're going to drill into that. How did you deal with that? How did you overcome it? It's really freeing, honestly, because

even if I think I'm doing the right thing, I know people will hate it. So I just care less about my decision making, like from things as simple as like an outfit that I really like, and I like took time to put together and people just hate the jeans or something. And it's just no matter what I do, people are going to have an issue with it. So I might as well just do what I want. And it's freed me up to just be myself. Okay, this is a really good transition to a quote that you said a year and a half ago. And I talked a little bit about did you expect to be on reality TV?

Why did you do it? And what do you think about it now? One of your responses was I was always the main character of my own movie. And now that everyone else gets to see it and likes me, it's been pretty fun. What is your initial reaction? What would you tell that person? I'm such a cock. Like, I get what I was trying to say.

But hearing that out loud sounds so bad. Yeah, I would probably tell myself to like chill out. Who cares? I mean, that is a good way to think about life as, you know, you've only got one life to live. Live it to the fullest. You're the main character in your movie, but how you just said it, I'm the man, so I'm glad everybody else sees it now is how it comes off. So, yeah, I'm trying to, I'm working on myself. I think here's what I see.

And tell me if there's wrong. I see when you said that, you of course have self-confidence. that you always have, you always will. But I also see in that statement, self-confidence connecting to your value being if people like you, right? Like people like me, so they're going to get to see it. And I think what I'm seeing here is if people like me, great. If people don't like me, that's okay too. I just have to continue to be the best of me. And to me, that's just like truly the definition of growth. And that's what I see. Does that feel like that resonates? Yeah, totally. I think people connect.

with authenticity and even if you know you're not perfect nobody's perfect so people connect with as long as you're authentically you whether you make mistakes as long as you own up to it people can see the good in that I love it all right so from the mental side of the business let's talk a little bit about the finance and business side of the business you went to university of Miami we're in Miami right now you go to WME you talked last time you're on the episode if you guys haven't listened go back and listen to it, but you worked in the mailroom, how much you made, you worked your way to an agent. You then left with a business partner. On last year and a half episode, you said that you guys raised $11 million together. You pivoted the entire business and then you guys got divorced.

You and your business partner broke up. You also talked about the fact you had vested interest in the business and that if there is some kind of exit, you could see a potential six-figure check. Have you guys exited? Have you seen the check? Where do you stand with that business partner? We are still best friends. Wow. Thank God. Yeah, it's much easier to be his friend when you're not his business partner. Well said.

He rolled that business into another business, which is like a solar energy business. And it's still kicking. So no exit, but no official failure. Okay. So you haven't got that check. No. Okay. What about any other, and we'll get into the business of social media and everything else.

But what about other businesses, investments or potential just like interest you have that have come to fruition in the last year and a half that might be outside of what we see on your social media? Yeah. So there's the show, obviously, social media and just like everything that comes with being on the show, appearances, whatever, which is like incredible that people pay me for that. I'm so lucky. And then music obviously is a losing endeavor at this point, but it's an investment in my future. And we can get into all that. And then last time I was on, I was brokering money into small and medium-sized businesses. I'm doing less of that and more investing in those businesses.

So just being the financier instead of the broker, it's just a better use of my time. And frankly, I make more money doing it. and then I've invested in startups. So if 70 or 80% of my money is like with my financial advisor at UBS in like the SMP and bonds and whatever, I would say like 10% is in crypto and then another 10% is in startups. What startup have you invested in that you're most excited about? Besides softbar. Yeah.

Oh, softbar is a good one. Yeah, let's go. How much did you invest in a soft bar? This is between Carl and I, I'll leave it there. But we get into it on the show. Oh, you do? You talk about it? Yeah, like you'll hear about who invested in soft bar and stuff on Summerhouse.

But Carl's crushing it. Events, brand partners. So softbar is great. There's a company called Waivers, which is a chip company that David Dobrick started. Oh, yeah. And one of the new cast members on Summerhouse got me involved in that. He's buddies with David. So that's been great.

They're in like 7-Elevens all across Australia and go-puff deal and crushing it. So that's been fun. And then I invested in this company SAWS that Felix put together with his company BulletPitch. So that was just to like get involved in his syndicate. And I've been looking at others. But yeah, mostly like consumer products for whatever reason. Like those consumer food products have been coming my way. And I've seen like really good opportunities.

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endorsements and advertising. One thing you said last time you were on the show, but it's interesting. I guess there's two sides of this. I'll start with side number one. I always thought it was cringe to be a man posting on social media. How do you feel about that now 18 months later? I feel like I've been able to develop as a digital creator,

which is not something that came as second nature to me. So it's been like a fun learning process, being able to partner with some of my favorite brands, whether it's like I did a stand-up to cancer deal with MasterCard. And then I went to the World Series and we're like on the field right before Show Hay is about to lead off in game two. And like I went to on a ski trip with Sonos, which is I love music. We got to go skiing in Italy and the Dolomites. Just awesome experiences that I never would have expected to have. Yeah. So just a little bit of my take is I think the idea of cringe or people saying like, oh, thirsty. I think that's just a lot of like blanket judgment.

And maybe people really feel that. But I think at the end of the day, when you look in the mirror and you stand like 10 toes down thinking about your life, where 18 months ago what you were doing with your career and your accessibility and the experiences you got and the friendships you had, the network, all the things in your life have changed based on I've seen as a friend and even this conversation for the better. Financially, professionally, personally, you've grown mentally. You're doing more philanthropic work. And that all was the epicenter of making the decision to go on reality TV.

And now you're clearly growing your social media. So you're doing these things to grow your social media. And I think these statements of people calling people cringe or thirsty are just outrageous. Why would you not want to better that? Why would you not want an opportunity to take a shot at music when that was your entire life studying it. Do not feel bad for pursuing the interest that will best serve you, your family, your future life, your future potential kids because people put these labels on it and it just infuriates me. And I think making it gender specific to is just very, it's unfair. I don't think,

I just think it's, they're very shallow comments. You got a lot of people out there that are men on social media that are making unbelievable impact in the world, a Jay Shetty, or an MD motivator, or people like a KSI or I Show Speed who are changing the blueprint for things. And I think, I don't It's just that statement, it just thugs me a little bit. Probably because people have said it about me too. And it's just, I'm going to keep doing my thing. Yeah, do your thing. Your negativity is not going to.

And it's changed my life. And it's changing other people's lives. It's changing other people. I get messages from people that are cancer survivors or when and got checked because of a post of mine they saw. And it's a business. It promotes all your other things. And it's becoming just like more acceptable. Everybody's on social media.

everybody is posting. Everybody wants to be an influencer. So I think it's like not as cringe as it used to be. It is what it is. You just got to keep doing. You know what the noise. All right. Now let's get to money.

You said your goal. It was. 2023, you said your goal. As far as money, I want to be making. Jason, I knew you were going to ask me this. As far as making money, I want to be making millions a year. The goal is to be making over a million in 2025. 2025 did you make over a million?

Listen, if you want to say how much money you made in 2025. Yeah, I'll tell you. In 2024, I made $2.7 million in 2020. Whoa. Yeah, 20203. I made around $3 million. Wow. Yeah. I didn't expect you to do that. What do you mean?

If I'm going to ask you to do it, I got to do it myself. And I don't do it to brag. I don't do anything other than there's an episode coming out where I talk about it. I'll talk about exactly how I did it, where I did it. I talk about the impressions behind my page, which is over a half a billion in 2025. five. So there's a lot of moving parts. Branding when I work with top, I'm working with Fortune 500 companies in finance and insurance and things that are very brand safe. So I have to be brand safe. So the numbers are bigger. So there's, I don't say it to, to, to pump my chest. I

say it to, that we can learn from it. Yeah. I will say, and maybe I'll ask you to cut this out later once I think about it, but I didn't make multiple millions, but I broke the seven figure threshold in 2025. You worked your ass off doing it. What was the hardest thing to go through to get to that point? Yeah, I don't know. I love what I do. So it's like such a fun job to go to a sharehouse in the Hamptons with your friends and film a TV show.

And then like post on social media, do music. Music, I lose money again. But yeah, like doing the brand deals is so fun. And it's a lot of not wear and tear, but it's mentally. and emotionally and physically exhausting. Like you're flying around the country all the time. You're going to events. And it's really fun.

And I'm a very social guy. And I really enjoy talking to people and meeting new people and meeting fans. But definitely draining. Yeah. And I'm sure you feel that too. The thing about the job that's tough is every day you have to wake up. And every day you have to be on top of it. You have to, from a content perspective,

You have to be creating, producing, thinking about editing. When it comes to a lot of these things, they're in real life experiences. So you have to live on a plane. You have to constantly be traveling to these spots. Yeah. And I think... With you, you have to go on the fucking news and talk about...

I got to go on the news and the markets and politics or what's going on. So it's interesting how things shift so quickly. But there's never a day off in this space. That's for sure. Yeah. And the other thing, too, is like, tomorrow. The hardest part about this is tomorrow I can end. Like tomorrow, they shut off one switch to one platform,

one mistake, one thing, it can be gone. Yeah. There's no predictability in cash flow. Totally. But since I enjoy it so much, like a Monday and a Saturday, don't feel the same just because the energy of the week can change a lot. But I would do work on any day of the week because my work is like anybody else's idea of a great time. 100%.

Like yesterday was Sunday and I went to sleep. I said, I remember, I'm like, today felt like a Monday. I don't even know what day it is because I was a full work day. I think when you're really passionate about what you do and you love it, you just keep going full speed. Let's talk about a little spending. So earnings have gone up. Last time you came on the show, you had two rents because you're keeping residency here in

New York. You said your combined rent at that time was 6K. I got to imagine those numbers are up big time. Yeah. My combined rent now is 11. Any takeaways learning lessons from the renting game you can give listeners, There's things to think about, things to consider. I would tell people to run the numbers on renting versus buying

because I've looked at buying condos, a house, and it just doesn't pencil out. You think with rent, you're lighting money on fire, but when you buy, you have interest on your loan, HOA fees, insurance, you're lighting all that money on fire. So, you know, obviously it depends on where, what you're buying, what the market's doing, all these different factors. But for me, renting makes sense. And I'm able to like also a down payment on the house, whatever. Say you buy a million dollar house and it's a 20% down payment. I keep that 200 grand in the market.

And I'm making interest on that every year that's compounding. So for me, it just makes sense to rent. 100%. People always say renting is throwing money away. And then if you look at a nice little T-chart and you look at a mortgage, that's not throwing money away. And then you look at rent, okay, sure, it's throwing money away. Go five line items down when you talk about tax, repairs, cost of whatever, maybe it's furnished, maybe it's not like all these line items that you won't see a return on that are overpriced that you're throwing away while owning a house versus renting. So I think that's a really good take. What's the worst? You're making a couple of more bucks now.

What's the worst expense you've made? Worst purchase, worst investment in the last year and a half. I spent this amount I shouldn't have. It was dumb. I guess we'll find out with these companies I invested in. Yeah, that's true. What about outside investments? Just like purchases.

You go spend a crazy night out or a dinner or something there's a car that you're at. I really don't do stupid things with my money. Listen, I spend a lot, but I'm building a business. and everything that I do is a business expense for the most part, maybe 80%, because it's all like posting on social media and work-related travel. So, yeah, nothing comes to mine off the top of my head. I bought like a nice watch, but the watch holds value. I bought a nice car.

Okay. What would you say the best money move you made in the last year and a half? Like the one thing you bought that you're like, I'm so proud of this, I love it, or it will make it you leave the best return. I've lived in New York for a while, so I haven't had a car in a bit, and I'm sure I sound like a grandpa. But, like, the fact that your car just turns into an iPhone and you have, like, your music and your maps and, like, people are texting you. And you're just, like, in this giant iPhone that's, like, so comfortable and fast. And, like, the speaker system's great.

I'm just, like, driving isn't even a chore. I, like, enjoy getting in the car and listening to music. You don't bring that car up to New York, do you? I think I'm going to. Drive it up? I think I'll ship it up. I think I'll ship it. Yeah.

Wow, let's go. We drive to the Hamptons every weekend. Might as well have the car. Might as well. All right. I got to be honest, if I had to attest one thing to my personal, professional, and financial growth, I'd probably say it's therapy. But therapy can be expensive.

I'm not going to lie. And you know we talk money on this podcast. Finding one who actually takes your insurance, that's where most online platforms fall short. Many don't work with insurances at all, which means you're stuck paying the full cost out of pocket. Well, Rula does things differently. They partner with over 100 insurance plans making the average co-pay just $15 per session.

That's real therapy from licensed professionals at a price that actually makes sense. Think about it. You use your insurance benefits to maintain your physical health. So why wouldn't you do the same for your mental health? And Rula just isn't affordable. The experience is tailored around you. What I like most about Rula too is they really work with you to help you find the best therapy for you. And I could tell you, finding a therapist, it's like chemistry. It's like dancing. You got to find the right one. And when you can find one with Rula, there are no wait lists, no frustrating back and forth. They make it easy. So here's what I want you to do.

Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high quality therapy. That's actually covered by insurance. Just visit rula.com slash trading secrets to get started. That's RULA.com slash trading secrets. You deserve mental health care that works with you, not against you. Do you budget different? It sounds like it all makes sense, right? Like your EMV, your earned media values going up. Time on TV is going up. Your social media is up. 350% TikTok, 169% on Instagram. All your numbers are up.

Are you budgeting differently? Do you have any other rules when it comes to? We've talked a little about your rent in your car, but do you have any like actual rules you live by or do you budget differently now that your earnings have gone up? I'm trying to live similar to how I was living before. I was making this amount of money. And if your expenses stay relatively the same and your income goes up, you're going to be saving a lot of money.

And it's not about how much you make. It's about how much you keep. And so I'm a Florida resident. I save about 15% of my income by being based here. Everybody always thinks they're like, oh, so you spend six months in a day in Florida? And that's not the rule. The rule is actually you can't spend six months in New York state because they're the ones who will tax. you. And of course, you need to be domiciled in Florida. You need to have a registered to vote in

Florida and a lease here or own property. So there's all these things that you need to put in place. But the main rule is just don't be in New York for six months. Understood. All right, there's a lot of people you talk about kids these days, Gen Alpha, Gen Z. Their dream is to be creators. You got millennials, Gen X, and boomers who still kind of roll their eyes at the whole industry. But it's growing at a crazy rate. $500 billion by 2030 will be the market size. Talk to me about this. You don't have to say the brand, but just to educate people on what a structure looks like, what are like maybe one of the best deals in 2025. And okay, I had to post or show up here and an amount for something like that. Dude, you got me one of the best deals of 2025. The agency did. I have ownership in an agency and one of our agents got you one of the best deals. We won't say the brand, but walk through like, are you comfortable sharing the amount? What you had to do for it?

It was a lot of money. And you, you, There was a production day, and it was a golf-focused campaign. I loved a golf shot in 88 yesterday. Damn. My best score ever. Yeah, I'm not like a great golfer, but that was really fun. Breaking 90s, beautiful. Yeah.

And so I just got to go to a golf course all day and film with Heather McMahon, and she's hilarious. And then they produce the assets, and I just need to hit post. So that's a great deal. That's a great deal. And how many posts did you have to do on that one? I think it was four Instagram. It was supposed to be like an appearance, but the appearance got canceled. And then I had to do more stories.

And so it kind of like ebbs and flows. It's still a little bit of the Wild West in this whole social media marketing world. But it is. It's definitely come a long way at the same time. Can you give, I know you don't want to say the exact amount, can you give us some kind of range? Jason. Or close to five, six figures you even anything? I already come off like such a cock on your show.

No, you're educating here. Yeah, I'm educating. You can make six figures for a single brand deal. Okay, now let's educate more. Go and someone hears that and they want to do it. Inspire them. How do they do it? What advice would you give someone if they wanted to get on digital and social to start monetizing?

Start posting. I wish I started posting earlier. I took a break for like 10 years from Snapchat and now I'm making money on Snapchat, which is a new development. Oh, no way. I haven't got on there. Yeah. You're missing out, brother.

That's a good. I don't know. If it, how much. How much you post a day on Snapchat? Because don't you have to post all the time. J-Salls 13. Follow you boy. Give it for them and follow.

You just rip posting. Yeah, but the beautiful thing about Snapchat is it kind of like scratches the itch of posting for me because like I'm, I just to be myself. And on Instagram, I feel like you have to filter and just like only show like aesthetic stuff. And Snapchat, I don't even watch what I record. I literally just record myself and talk to the phone and just. upload it. So it's fun in that way. And yeah, like the ROI of my time spent versus how much I make right now is a little lopsided. But I think eventually I could make a lot from it. Okay. Sweet. That's cool.

Yeah. See, learning new stuff. You're teaching me stuff. And it's a new avenue for every time I release a song, I have a whole other community of viewers to promote it and help support. And so it's just like a good thing to do, I think. Dude, I love it. Let's talk about your music. So you, you kept saying during this interview that it's a passion, but it's a losing endeavor at this point. Talk to me about the money and business behind the music industry and why it's a losing endeavor right now. Yeah. So music is what I spend the majority of my time on these days. And it just costs a lot of money to produce high quality stuff. What do the expenses look at?

So if you're working with the right people, which I don't know, I've been able to network my way into the industry. At first, I was paying for studio time, renting studios, paying people to a flat fee to produce a song for me. As I've worked with better and better people, the way it works typically in the music industry is you go to somebody's studio. The producer has the studio. If it's in L.A., it's probably in their garage and their house. and you make the song, and if you decide to put that song out, you have to advance the producer, their producer fee.

So it can be anywhere from, say, $1,500 to, like, big-name producers, like $25, 50. It can get really expensive. So you invest, let's just say it's $15,000 for that producer, you're getting studio time. Let's just say you're going all in $30K on, was that a song, or how many songs are that? Yeah, so that producer fee is an advance. against future royalties on the streaming of that song. Of that one song? Yes.

So you'll hire a producer for, let's just call it 5, 15K or whatever. Yeah, it's not hiring. It's if you decide to put that record out, you have to advance them their fee. So you can work together, you can write five songs, you can all hang out and have fun. And it's basically like they're believing in you as an artist that you have potential and they're going to spend their time with you. and you're all going to be in the studio together, and that's a sunk cost.

But hopefully we all make a piece of art that is worthy of releasing. How is the art of the song paid back to you? Is it streams? Yes. So there's two parts. There's the master recording, and there's the publishing.

And so if there's three people in a room, you split the songwriting typically, like 33% each. between artist, songwriter, producer, and it can vary. And this is, I learned about this in school, but I'm, like, re-learning how it all actually works in the real world now, which has been great. And then you did a show, and I unfortunately couldn't make it. You did a show in New York, how does that work?

Do you get a portion of ticket sales, or is that only branding content? Yeah, so a show is you typically get a guarantee, which is for me right now, like pretty low. Yeah. And then... What's low? 5K-ish? No, dude, I'm about to go on tour and spend five weeks in a sprinter van, like, driving

around the country and hoping not to lose money. Wow. Yeah, it's like a total investment in your future and just like getting out there, performing in front of people, creating fans, like, showing people that I'm a real artist. What kind of venues do you perform? I'm trying not to skip steps. I'm trying to do this. as any developing artist would.

And how much better am I going to be at performing for a live crowd after doing it 18 times across the country? A lot better. Like if I somehow like have a viral hit, which would be awesome and just did MSG out of nowhere, like the show would suck because I wouldn't have put in the reps. Do you get nervous when you perform? Yeah.

Yeah, I think everyone does, right? Yeah. What do you do to calm the nerves? I breathe in and then I breathe out. for longer than I breathe in. Do you have a second hold for three seconds? No, no hold. I don't do a hold.

Have you ever had, like on TV or singing, have you ever had a moment where you're like a full panic attack? No, but I've thought about what it would be like if I did. It doesn't sound good. It's not good. I've had some of those before. Like in work, I've had those at big meetings or like on TV. I have a thought, especially with the business stuff.

I know exactly where our brain's going in that I just totally blank. Yeah. Like my heart just goes 100 miles an hour. It's the worst feeling in the world. Yeah. Forgetting what you want to say is miserable. I did come in here with a stat for you because I know you're a big numbers guy. Let's hear it.

There are 100,000 songs released on streaming every day. What? So for me, it's like, what am I going to do to differentiate myself as an artist? The barrier to entry has become so low with anybody just being able to upload their music and be a bedroom producer and just buy the equipment. And I guess back in the day in the music business, people would tour to show off their music and create fans and get people to be a fan of what they're doing. And then it flip-flop to where people would stream.

And once you started streaming enough, then you would go on tour to make money. And now it's like reverting back to the OG way. where people are getting out and touring to like, because people are craving that real experience and to like connect with people and go to live shows. Support for today's episode comes from Square. The easy way for business owners to take payment, book appointments, manage staff, and keep everything running in one place. Literally, whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, detailing cars, or just running a design

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Now, with Square, you get all the tools to run your business with none of the contracts or complexity. And why wait? Right now, you can get up to $200 off square hardware at square.com slash go slash trading secrets. That's SQU-A-R-E dot com. Slash go slash trading secrets, run your business smarter with Square. Get started today. Okay, you close your eyes, you're manifesting your music career. What does it look like? What's the dream a few years from now? Listen, I've got three songs that I'm really confident in that I'm going to release before May. I think in five years, the goal is like to be able to do an arena.

And like that would be like grand slam, blow it out of the park. I think a realistic goal would be to like be able to do theaters and in the thousands of people. Like right now I'm targeting like 300, 400 person venues and I sold out my show in New York, which I feel very fortunate. It was 10.30 in Brooklyn on a Tuesday, and like, the place was the energy was incredible. Let's go. So much fun. All right. We're manifesting good stuff here.

But I lost nine grand on that show. Interesting. On a sellout. Because I hired high-level musicians and I did a lot of rehearsals because I wanted, as my first show, I didn't just get kids from NYU and practice the night before. Like, I had four multi-hour rehearsals ahead of the show. You paid nine grand to perform. Yes. Wow.

But I still sold. I still made money from the venue, but I probably made five or six grand, and I spent like 14 or something. Wow. Worth it? Yeah. Showed me I could do it. You should you do it. Yeah.

It builds the brand. Yeah. I love it. So hopefully I can get a sponsor if you guys want to get me. Yeah. Yeah, we'll get you sponsor. If anyone out there wants to sponsor, Jesse. If any brands want to get involved in the tour.

We'll take that sprinter band and just wrap it with the advertisement. I'm thinking about like streaming the whole tour or like making YouTube content or something. You should. You should. You should. I don't know what I'm going to do. Rip it. All right.

One of the last things we've got to wrap with his personal life, man. Any hard, fast dating rules or things you're looking for in a partner? I would say the thing I've been missing is a career woman, somebody who's got something going on, whether it's like entrepreneur, creative, even like an influencer, somebody where we can like work off of each other and help each other. support each other. Are you looking for someone that's as passionate about their career as you? Are you looking for someone that's in your space also doing what you're doing? Both, I think. It doesn't need to be like music. I'm spoken from experience. Yeah, maybe that's not what I want. I'm talking about the

same industry, obviously. Yeah. I've always been very about my mom's been a role model for me. She's always been so passionate about her work and she's so motivated professionally. And so I've always wanted that and a partner too, which is awesome. And I have that. But dating in the industry. Yeah, congrats. It's very hard. I'm having a amazing girl. Yeah, you've met her. Yeah.

Let's go. She was great. Yeah. She almost had me adopting a dog on the spot. There's two things. You almost adopted a dog. You're going to be a foster. And then I think you closed it out with her.

Like, do you know any other pretty, do you any other pretty girls that work at your rescue or started to rescue? I'll take your referral. I think I just want somebody who's passionate about anything. Yeah. I love it. They're excited about what they're doing. Rip it.

Do you have a take on preemms? I'm not anti-pre-up. Okay. My parents don't have one, but they're together. Do you have any hard and fast rules when it comes to 11 money? I used to be of the mindset not to mix friendships or relationships with business, but now as my circle grows and shrinks at the same time, like my closer people, I need to be able to trust, and I'm also making so many new cool friends.

I'm more open to mixing friendships with business and potentially love interests with business, but I never have. I always say I lived in a world where you siloed those. Break those walls down. It's all the same foundation. Personal life, professional life, financial life. You break it down. It all makes you who you are and what you do and how you do it. Speaking of professional life, though, let's talk about reality TV. Other shows you would love to your single. Would you go on The Bachelor? Would you be the Bachelor? Would you have gone on Taylor-Frakey Paul's season? Would you go on other shows? Talk to me. I'm a Bravo guy. I'm an NBC guy. So I'm enjoying being on Summerhouse right now and seeing where how the show evolves.

I think we're going to learn a lot this summer next summer. I love traders. That's a fun one that I would, I think I would either be great or terrible at. I agree with that. There would be no middle. Yeah. It'd be the best or the absolute worst. I'm like not good at lying, but maybe just make me a faithful so like I don't have to lie.

Yeah. And then, yeah, I would never say no to being the bachelor. I would love to see that. It would be so good. I'm dating like 20 hot girls at the same time. A recipe for unbelievable TV. Oh, no. What about in the city the spin off of Summer House?

Was that something you wanted to be on? Bummed that you weren't? How did that go? No, I think it's the natural evolution of the people that have been on Summerhouse for 10 years. Like, their lives are changing. And Bravo, NBC figured out a way to follow that. And they want to follow our lives. And for me, the Summer House fits my lifestyle.

And I think it's like a great way to see what I've got going on. But it is just like weekends in the summer. As I get older, it could be nice to be on a show where they follow more of like my day-to-day. But for now, Summer House is great. Yeah. One of the questions I have on this season is I don't think it's up for debate. I think a consensus everyone can agree on is that Paige Disorb was a star. She just, she's become an absolute star.

And then there's a lot of speculation that her not being on this season could really hurt the ratings. do you think that'll have an impact? We missed Paige, but, and I love Paige, and she's crushing it, but it also was a different vibe in the house. Real quick, and we're about to wrap here, but when you say the vibes, different vibes, how have the vibes been different? Amanda and Sierra went out with us.

More partying. Yeah, Sierra and Amanda came out because if there's three of them, it was easier for them to all just be together and chill. If it was just two of them, we were like, come on, come out. And so the house, like, went out and got after it. I didn't know Sierra. And I got to sit next to her at Remy Bader's holiday party.

She is fucking awesome. The best. Like, absolutely love that girl. Her energy, her vibe, her humor. Like, she is electric. Yeah, she's good people. She keeps me in check. Yeah.

I've learned so much from her. Which is so important from friends. Like, you need that. Yeah. Yeah. She's very mature for her age. And yeah, she's been a good friend. Okay.

So season eight, we talked a lot about the cancer that you had gone through. It was a big part of your story then. We're now in season 10. Your platform has changed. And it's always continued and will be part of your story. And I'm also seeing you're doing some non-for-profit and you're making greater impact within those realms. Talk to me a little bit about how that continues to shape you and what you want to continue to do to serve those communities. Yeah, I've been able to do work with Robert Kraft's organization.

What's Up with Hayes? and fight anti-Semitism and just grow closer with my Jewish community, which has been really rewarding. I think just seven years out from cancer, I just feel like a different person. Season 8, Jesse, back to your asking earlier, I was still like hadn't gotten my five-year all-clear. And so I was like much closer to having gone through cancer twice. and now that I'm like over seven years out, I think I'm freer and just like able to take dating more seriously and be intentional with that. Look forward to the future more as opposed to like being scared about the future. It's incredible. It's awesome what you're doing, especially like using your

platform and Bravo, right, to be able to continue to drive impact. Last question I got for you on this topic, any type of advice you'd give to men out there as it relates to proactively checking for testicular cancer or different checkups, what would you say? If you feel something out of the ordinary or anything that's changed, go to the doctor, go get your physical every year, get your blood work done. Like our mom stopped telling us to go to the doctor every year once we like go to college and become adults. You got to remember to do yourself exams and go get your physicals. I love it. Great advice. Keep making good impact. There's one thing we got to end with. here. Last time you sang for us, I'm going to need some kind of song. It could be

trading secrets. It could be about a friendship. It could be about you. It could be about life. Just a one little quick Jesse Solomon sing-off. Can you give us? Can you give us something? A little jingle? Yeah, let me think of a rhyme. And he's also, I want to preface this. He's also a little horse right now because he was cheering on his Chicago Bears last screaming. No, no excuses. Play like a champion. No excuses. Play like a champ. All right. I think we should record like a real jingle for your, do you have an intro jingle? I do, but I'd be so. down to change it. Yeah, we could do something fun. Trading secret.

Trading secret, maybe a little long. You can learn about money with your friend Jason. All right, we'll take it. Now I think we have to look forward to reading a trading secrets. Jingle, Jesse Solomon. I'm so excited to watch season 10. I'm so excited you're killing it in all areas of life. Thank you for having me. Good things are coming. I could just feel it. When I have guests, I can feel the energy. I feel like 2026, 2027, too.

I think 227 is going to be the biggest year of your life. 2026 is going to be big, though. I feel the energy. Where can everyone find everything you have going on so they could follow that? My Instagram's Jesse Saul's, J-S-E-S-O-L-S. Same with TikTok, Snapchat, J-S-O-L-S-13. And yeah, that's pretty much it. Find me on Summerhouse.

Bravo. Season 10 premiere, February 3rd, I think 8 p.m. Eastern on a Tuesday. What on a Tuesday? Tuesday's your day. I will tell you 18 months. This man is grown in so many ways. Can't wait to see you with the next 18 months look like.

Jesse Solomon. Thank you for being on Trink. Thank you for having me.