Trading Secrets - 45: Real Housewives' Ramona Singer: Conquering Fashion, Reality TV, Pinot Grigio, & Real Estate

Episode Date: March 28, 2022

Pre-order The Restart Roadmap: Rewire and Reset Your Career TODAY!   In this week’s episode, Real Housewives of NYC original cast member and self-made entrepreneur Ramona Singer shares how her fearlessness and go-getter personality paid off in her remarkable career. Prior to being cast on the show, Ramona was a powerful force to be reckoned with in the world of fashion. At the pinnacle of her fashion career, she was doing $15 million a year in sales! Curious how she did it? Or how she landed a spot on the very first season of RHONY? Or maybe the dollar signs associated with the show and the behind-the-scenes negotiations with Bravo? While the exposure from RHONY is what propelled her to stardom and brought along many additional exciting business opportunities, there’s no denying that her strong business acumen was an essential part of her success. If you’re seeking advice on how to succeed in business, when to buy or sell your property in the current housing market, how to negotiate for yourself, or even the best approach to investing your money in the stock market when you don’t know what to do, this is an episode that you cannot afford to miss.   To start wine investing with Vinovest today, Go to zen.ai/secrets & be sure to mention Trading Secrets!    Sponsors: Wanderingbear.com code SECRETS for 20% off Audible.com/futurology to listen Novo.co/secrets to sign up for FREE Ourcrowd.com/secrets to invest   Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Sequence. If you're familiar with the Real Housewives of New York City, you certainly know of the fearless go-getter, Romona Singer. Ramona was cast by Bravo is one of the five original real housewives of New York City that first aired in 2008 and she has stayed with the hit show ever since.

While the exposure from Roney is what propelled her stardom and brought along many, many additional exciting business opportunities, you might not know that she actually lent an extremely successful career in the fashion industry before joining Bravo's reality TV show.

Ramona is an unstoppable powerful, self-made entrepreneur who has launched several business ventures and continues to challenge herself by gaining expertise across various industries. Her most recent career move? Real estate. She has had anything but a cookie-cutter career, and we're super lucky to have her share all of her insight and takeaways that she has learned along the way. Ramona Singer, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you, Jason, for having me. Yes. I mean, it was so cool to even do research on your Ramona because I'm seeing everything from, of course, all Bravo different highlight reels to even squawk box. Like everything in between you have done. One of the coolest

things I think you've done that we are extremely supportive of at Trading Secrets and at restart is you kind of broke away from corporate America and you kind of wrote your story, not the story that was being written for you. And you started your first business, something that so many Americans are doing right now through the great resignation. Can you walk us through a little bit of what made you leave and do your own thing and specifically like how you first got it going? Because that's where people struggle. They have the idea. They just can't get it going. Well, I had the opportunity. And sometimes your people get opportunities, but they don't see something or they're afraid, they're nervous. They say they can't do it. And I think one of the things

that helps me, it will help people, is you have to be very positive to say that you can do it. It can be done. So I basically was working for a major fashion house, Steinand B, and they had lost financing for that division that I was running. And they said, listen, we have a lot of closeouts, a lot of closeouts, because they were private label for Limited Express and Taylor Talbets. And they said, until we find financing to re spute you here, get rid of these clothesouts. And I'm like, close outs, what do you mean? Like all of a sudden, I'm selling like things for $999, $10.99. When I used to have collections, this is my collection for your A-Stra. was promoting to Newman Marcus and Burdorf-Burdman and Marshall Fields.

Now I'm dealing with T.J. Max and Century 21 and Gateway and Marshalls. It was a whole different thing. And I had to learn what to do. And I moved millions of dollars with inventory in two weeks. They gave me a deadline. And they were like shocked. They were shocked. So I kept doing it for them for a while.

And then they said, listen, we're not getting financing. Here's a $5,000 check. And goodbye. So here I was, you know, oh, this was like really bad because I just broken off my engagement. I couldn't stand my roommate, and I had no job. So those are the three things, right? Shelter, family, job. I had none.

And what did I do? I did the craziest thing I ever did the most, I don't know if it's irresponsible, but definitely frivolous. I bought the most gorgeous golden aisle box coat that matched my hair. It was like, it was $5,000 that would be like probably, you know, like 15 naps.

I bought it wholesale, of course. So then they approached me, go, listen, we don't, the CFO said, I don't want to do, get rid of this merchandise. Why don't you do it? Why don't you buy it from us and get rid of it? So I'm thinking about it. So let me ask you a question about that

because there's so many cool things you already touched on that my brain's firing. But he told you to move access inventory. When we're listening to this now, we have all been to either, you know, the Nordstroms or the Nordstrom off racks and we see those reduced ticket items. So he essentially had this excess inventory.

He need to be, it need to be sold and turned over quickly. And liquidated. What did you do? Like, how did you liquidate it at that speed at that volume? I just, I don't know. I'm just very driven. I mean, I started playing up all my friends because I knew like some of the major people, but I said, who else do you know when do closeouts? Who else will buy? So I just got a whole new list. So instead of a list of regular retail stores, like a Macy's, a Bonwet Teller, a burgdorf's a Marshall Fields, I got a huge list of discount stores. And I had a rolling, oh, this is the best thing I did. You're going to like this. So I bring in a buyer and I say, okay, I need $15 for this blazer. And they go, well, I I only want to pay 10. I go, I'm sorry, I need 15. And I go, well, and they go, well, how about 12? I go, fine. You want to write the order for $12? Write the order for $12. But if someone gives me more money, I'm not shipping you. Okay, I'll write it for $15. I love that negotiation

and its finest for Ramona. Negotiation 101. That is huge. Now, when you made the decision to do this, because you said the three things you need in life, right? We already talked about that shelter, companion, and stuff like that. And one thing that a lot of people deal with now is their or friends and families telling them that what their decision is doing is not right because it doesn't fit the system of the blueprint, the system that defines success. Did anybody doubt what you were doing when you were doing? Did your family members say, Ramona, what are you doing? Or was it always, no, we believe in your story, just keep doing it? Well, I had a blueprint. You know, you always have to have a master plan. And I don't like to

take risk, and I don't like risking money. And because later on, I basically saved a million dollars and people thought I was crazy because I put it in the CDs. I didn't want it in the market because I took me too long to make that money. So to go back to risk. So basically, I had a desirable commodity and I told my, I had actually a friend in the business. I said, listen, I've been doing this already now for like six months. I'm only going to buy merchandise that I purchased orders for. So my secrets, my business was it was all pre-sold.

Interesting. So you were never floating. You never needed like floating capital. It was already. Well, no, capital I needed. No, so that was, no, the idea was a lot of people in the close-out business, let's say that blazer you have one, they'll buy 100,000 units of it, and maybe they can only sell 90 or 50, and they're stuck with the rest and they're losing money. I would only buy those 100,000 blazers if I already

had orders. So I would get that blazer, send out samples to this store, that store. I get orders within 36 hours, 24 hours. Also because I had an niche, it was Express. People wanted the discount stores wanted. It was a desirable commodity, private label, Express, Limited, Ann Taylor. So I only purchased, I only bought the merch. There was no risk. There was no risk. I love it. Unless, of course, the business went out, went out of business. But I was dealing with triple A stores. So I said, so I had this one gentleman friend that I was always good friends with. He was a big, um, he sold a lot of fabrications to Mike, the companies I used to work for. And I told him about this idea. And I said, I need some money. He said, listen, I'll be your partner.

and that I told my dad about the idea. I goes, honey, you need no partners in life. What do you need to start? And I need to buy $70,000 worth of merchandise that I already had pre-sold. That 70,000 merchandise, when the people paid me, I made $90,000. I just made a $20,000. So you made that $20,000 instantly just from brokering the transaction? In the beginning, yeah, well, I would work on like, I think, like 15% or something.

So, yeah, so maybe the purchase order was $100,000, and it cost me $80,000. thousand so i was charging 20 percent which i thought was a fair price interesting so when your dad gave you though that 70k we talk a lot about debt and repayment what did your repayment back look like to your dad and how quickly well i was i was angry that he wanted me to pay him interest i had to pay interest i like that though i like that he's making you think through that you know yeah but i paid him back in 30 days because the stores were paying me oh no that was the other thing and then i realize what you talk about is cash flow, right? So I would have to pay my vendors and 30 days and stores at that time would want to pay net 60, 890. And I negotiated again with them. I said,

if you want this merchandise, you have to pay me in 10 days ROG. Because after they get the goods right in their warehouse, they have to pay me in 10 days. So I never had a cash problem. That is unbelievable. Once I started making the money in the business, because then I would just put the money back into the business. Right. Wow. I mean, huge, huge lessons that people can learn as they apply. But now this is what happened to you. Now this is the tricky part. I'm doing this for a year or two and the company I was working for called scene design. They were going public and they wanted per nepotism, get rid of me and bring someone else in. Okay. So now I left that company and now I'm going to do it all on my own because I had a captive audience with their merchandise.

So now I really had to branch out. I said, okay, I can risk. I remember it was $12,000, $1,000 a month rent. I said, I can afford to lose $12,000. I'm giving myself one year, one year to make money and see what I can do. And it took me about three months to get my first big deals. And after three months, that was it. I was on my way. And there's good lessons there, too, for people that are looking to make that transition. Ramona built this plan in place, right, so that you knew exactly how much cash you could bleed. You knew your time period and you had to get it done within that time period. That is awesome. Tell us a little bit more, though, because I really liked the story about RMS and how you started it. Tell us a little bit more,

because we don't see that as much behind the scenes, but where the business, like, grew to? Like, what was the pinnacle of the business? What type of sales were you doing? And when did you end up taking off from RMS? Okay, so basically what happened was I started, took the showroom, and I started making money after three months. And basically, you know, you talk to, you got to talk to people.

I'd be in the elevator. What do you work for? Do you have any excess inventory? I'd read the Trade Journal, Women's Wear. There's what Leslie Faye had a division that was going out of business. I went to them and I bought all of their merchandise. They're like, who are you? And I have the customer base.

See, you can have the best product in the world, but if you don't have the customer base, forget about it. So I had already built a good customer base and they trusted me because I never, because my background was a buyer, I never tried to fool them. If I said I'm going to ship Navy Blazers, they were Navy, not purple. If I said this is a size break, this is what I shipped them. It's always first quality. If there's a problem, I would tell them. you have to be very upfront and this way people trust you, right? It's all about a trust business. So what happened was I just kind of, then I got pregnant and I realized I should bring an assistant

in. So, because I was doing this all myself and going crazy. And this guy next to me, a nice guy like you said, you need some help here. And I brought a girl in and eventually I had like three or four people working for me. And I was doing about five million a year, which is probably like, you know, 15 million a year. And by the time I was 37, I had saved a million dollars in cash, which brought me my homes in South Hampton and my apartment in New York City. Wow. That is an unbelievable story of just grinding and figuring a way out, especially with like not having many other options.

I did it all. I did the accounts receivable. I mean, but then my girls would do it. But I'd call. I'd say, hi, this is Ramah's Fashions. I'm just checking on an outstanding invoice. Can you please tell me the status? Well, you know, and then I'd say they go, well, can you put me to the top of the piles

if you could pay me. A lot of happen. And then I got a factor. And then I got a factor, which would ensure. because now I'm shipping invoices a quarter of a million at a time, or I have receivables about half a million, and now I have a baby. I'm helping support my family, and I didn't want to risk a half a million dollars. So I got a factor because they insure it. They take 1% of your revenue to insure. So that way, I'm guaranteed payment even if the store goes belly up.

Yeah, exactly. In the recap, we'll do a deep dive of what factoring is and how it works with cash flow and stuff like that because it's a great tool to use. Ramona, as we move past your story with RMS. What do you think? I have two questions for you. The biggest takeaway, the biggest learning lesson that you would give to an entrepreneur given your grind to the startup and then your success to the millions and millions of dollars of revenue. What is like one of your biggest takeaways? You have to just really believe in yourself. I mean, if I had doubted myself, I wouldn't be where I was. I mean, there's so many, there's like Ben Elias. There's major companies who did what I did. I actually was competing with them. So it's just you have to believe in

yourself and just be passionate. And I always look at everything as the glass is half full, not half empty. And you have to have drive. It's just to be passionate and have drive. And if someone's listening to this right now and they're intrigued by your story and they've always had a desire to get in the fashion space, but they don't know where to start. How would you recommend someone break in a little bit to the fashion space? You have to work for someone. I mean, basically I was working for other people and I learned. I mean, when I was working for companies like Calvin Klein, French connection, there was always excess inventory, and I would sell that too. So it's just about putting yourself in the environment. When I was a buyer for Macy's, I started off as a sales goal for Macy's. And then

I became a sales manager, which got me into the training program, which may be an assistant buyer and then a buyer. So, and then I dated a guy in the garment center. And I go, there's something wrong with equation. He's making a lot of money, not working that hard. I'm not making that much money and working my ass off. So that's when I switched to Calvin Klein, French connection. I switched to those areas. because you have potential to make more money in the fashion business and retail. And it's not as hard. It's not as demanding. I think the curiosity of that is so important, though.

Like when you see someone that's making all this money, but you don't see much input, you start to scratch your head and say, why am I, what do I working for this person if I could do it myself? I mean, that's the type of drive that so many people are seeing it. We're seeing it with great resignation now. I want to transition, though, because RMS is a great story. I think there's so many takeaways from what you did. But everyone knows you're right. I mean, for the most part, from real housewives.

So how did that opportunity come about? When did you get approached to go on the show? And where were you from a business perspective at that point? At that point, my company was doing strong numbers and I got approached to do it. And I really didn't want to do it. But I just was my daughter at that time wanted to be an actor. So I said, okay, let me just film for the day. On board right now, it's July.

It's like, you know, a dead season. Oh, and this is also thinking out of the box. So closeouts, you can't find a lot of closeouts in July. August. So I actually would produce my own merchandise to sell to my stores. Oh, interesting. I would actually make merchandise. So you created inventory on seasonal times where inventory was super low. Yeah. That is really cool. Before, I want to get to Real Housewives, but before I do, now you got me thinking as a consumer. We already talked about a business person, like maybe trying to get into fashion space. But as a consumer, right, just bought this blazer. You go shopping. You do look for

the reduced racks. Do you have any tips or tricks that we should. should know as a consumer when buying at a mall and outlet store online. Anything you would tell us? I mean, I really think, you know, stores like T.J. Max Ross stores and they make a great product. I get first quality product from major brands that is just left over merchandise and they just want to get rid of it. So, but you have to just frequent them every week or something because they get shipments every day and the good stuff goes fast. Yeah, fascinating. All right, there it is. All right. So real housewives, right? So you get a approach. You said you don't want to really, you're not thinking about doing it, but your daughter wants to be an actress.

Oh, I know, because my girlfriend, my girlfriend, Dr. Sharon Gesey, they cold called her, the production company, and they said, do you have any patients or any friends that are married, that work, that are very social, live a nice life, and our dynamic. So she called me up. She's the only one I can think of as you, Ramona. So as just as a fun thing, I did it. And then my daughter's like, are we getting it? Are we getting it?

And then they called me. And I really had no interest, but they do a demo tape. So I said, I'll consider doing the show. If you send me the demo tape, you gave the producers. They go, oh, well, we don't think we can do that. I said, well, then I don't think I can do the show. Then they said, hold on. They sent me the tape.

And I remember playing tennis with Jill Zerrin. We had no idea we were signing up for the same show. So I said, I'm doing the show. I asked for demo tape. She, I didn't get one. I'm doing the same show. I mean, how freaky is that? That is so wild.

I love in both your business life and the real housewives. you, and I've seen it just from far, you kind of set the standard for things and you're just not afraid to walk away at any time, right? I mean, you did this in all your business. Oh, the negotiations. They set me a contract. They go something for the contract. I started negotiating the contract because I don't know how I know, but I just, I understand law very well. I love learning law in school. And in the contract, it said, if you somehow leave, they're going to charge me $50,000. I'm like, that's absurd. You're going to change that maybe to $5,000, which they did. And then I started negotiating, this is the best part.

I was negotiating for 7,500 an episode, right? But then I walked away because I go, what do I need this for? I'm already social. I'm famous with my friends. I have a great career. I have a husband and social. I don't need this stuff. Then I decided I'll do it because I met this woman at Polo.

And he said, I want you to do the show. Why won't you do the show? I go, number one, I have no time. Just don't worry. It's only filming once or twice a week. That was line number one. Then I said to her, well, you know what? I'm older than these girls.

by 10 years. I don't do the big charity benefits anymore. I've been there, done that. I do intimate dinner parties for 2030. She's like, fine. We'll film that. I go, no, my friends will not want to be filmed. She goes, well, don't worry. We'll have enough. I go, no, no, no, I'll be so boring. She's Ramona, you're nothing but boring. And then, like, the little light bulb went off my head, like ding, ding, ding. I convinced my ex-husband to do true faith jewelry with me to develop a website. I said, well, if you promote and showcase true faith jewelry, then I'll do the show, She goes, I'll get back to you. They agreed, and I did the show.

Then this is the worst part. Jill Zarin and the other people were so desperate to do the show. They agreed to do all six episodes for only $7,500. What? Yes. While you were getting $7,500 per episode and you were placing organically your business. No, but I dropped out of the negotiations. And then when I decided to do it, I told the lawyer, okay, I'm in $7,500 episode.

She said, oh, no, it's $7,500 for six episodes. That's like a thousand an episode. But the good news is we end up between 12 episodes. So I think we ended up making with a reunion $50,000 in the first season. Okay. And in the second season, I said I wouldn't do it for any less than X amount. I was always the one who like, because you know what, I know what we're worth. So we're speaking, you know, Bravo's been very good to me.

So anyway, that's my story with Bravo. So as you've negotiated from 2008 to where we are today, like, have those numbers drastically, drastically changed? Because we come on. I'm on the show for like 20 years now. I mean, I think I'd be being paid a little more than 50,000 a season. Well, I would, I would freaking hope so. We always hear on this show that like these reality television people, even when they go back, go back, they say like, I make all my money because of the show and the stuff I do off of it. I wouldn't say that material amount is made on.

I don't really know what everyone gets paid. I know that Bravo does pay their people who've been there for a while quite fairly, in my opinion. And people do have other businesses and some people don't. So it's all what you want to do. So do you think majority of people on Real Housewives make more from the show? or from the businesses and stuff outside? I don't know. It's each, each person.

Okay. Now, with all your negotiations, though, what would you say, because you've had a ton of experience in negotiating, and said you're like the leader within the group of negotiating, what tips would you have from someone sitting home in, let's say, someone's sitting home in Pennsylvania and they're a salesperson or wherever they are listening to this show right now? What tips do you have for negotiating and making sure that you're getting paid for what you're worth?

Well, you cannot be afraid not to walk. You have to know your worth. And it always, you know, it's always good to interview other places, you know your worth. I mean, I know when I was going from one company to another company, I would just, you know, my salary because they would be paying me. So go for another job. I increase my salary by another 10,000,000, so you can't be afraid to walk. And you have to give a, you know, give a good presentation.

You have to have a meeting with the person and say, listen, like I have a review. This is the business I've created for you. Or when you're with a sales company, say, I want goals. If I do an extra, if my goal is a million, but I bring a million a half, I want extra money to that extra half a million I bring in. So you have to do a contract yourself and not be afraid to say, listen, I think this is how it should be. And no company wants to lose as a good salesperson, because that's how they make their money

is through sales. Exactly. I mean, they drive the top line. One thing I'm thinking about, Ramona, as you're speaking and all the research we've done and been able to watch on TV is you don't strike me as someone who really deals at all through all the different chapters of your life with imposter syndrome. And in our audience, we did a poll, and about 84% of them said they do deal with imposter syndrome on a day-to-day basis.

What are my impostors? I don't know what you mean. So imposter syndrome. Yeah, so what imposter syndrome is, is that when they walk into a room of other people, they immediately start stacking themselves up against themselves and feel as though they don't belong. Feel as though, like, wait, why am I here? And you don't do that.

That's rule number one. You don't do that. So how are you never intimidated by maybe it's like the biggest celebrity or the biggest producer or the biggest person in fashion? Like what does Ramona do to be like, no, no, no, not me. I don't deal with that. I think it's very important in life and business. And I guess even in the personal, I never did it.

I guess I do it personally too. But I know in business, I always say, or whatever career path you're on, just think straight ahead, follow your own path. You can't look to the left. You can't look to the right. You can't look behind. You can't be worried what other people. are or aren't just be you and be confident in you yeah i like that just get get confidence in what you're

doing and i think it comes down to like knowing yourself when you know yourself better than anyone else you're not going to feel like you're an imposter in the room yeah i mean you know the book the secret i was doing the secret before the book was even written and my daughter now she's doing that she's doing little post it's like it's just do if you're not confident just put something on the mirror and three times a day say you know what i'm a great person i have this going for me and this going for me and this going for me, and I'm a fabulous, you know, wife, mother, friend, businesswoman. You have to, like, believe in yourself. If you don't believe in yourself, who's going to believe in you?

Exactly. Well said. You got it. And I think if you don't believe in yourself, who's going to believe in you? And the other thing, too, is if you can't sell yourself, how is anyone going to understand your value? Because you have to be able to sell yourself day in and day out because no one's going to do it for you. Ramona, since 2008 and joining Real Housewives to now, a ton of business opportunities have come your way. and you've done a million things.

Of those, what has been the most, let's say either exciting or lucrative business endeavor that has come from being on the Bravo show? I really enjoyed doing the pina grigio. I had to stop doing it because it was just too much work doing all the personal appearances. But the pina grisio was fun

because I actually created a wine that I loved and I made sure it tasted even good lukewarm because a lot of times pinagrisias only taste good ice cold and I make sure that it tasted good room temperature, that the last note was smooth with a pear and apple. And I actually love going to the signings, but it was just too much being on the plane every week. And it was just too much. It was too much for me. But I really enjoyed it. And listen, I was very proud. I sold like 10,000 cases in one year. That's like huge. I opened up some major stores,

some major chains. I got into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is really difficult to get into because it's state regulated. So that was a really major accomplishment. That is huge. One question we get a lot, especially just being on like from the Bachelor shows, but you've been doing this for now, you know, almost 15 years or so, is what is your biggest life and business learning lesson behind the camera? So when you're in the reality television, you're seeing people angle, you're seeing people manipulate, you're dealing with producers, you're dealing with branding.

What has been one of your biggest takeaways from living in this reality TV space for 15 years? Well, I know one thing I've learned when filming. No one should allow a producer to manipulate them or make them do something that they're not comfortable with. And I know I had some situations and I love doing Bravo. I love Bravo, the network, but I had situations with some producers. They wanted me to do things that didn't feel right for me, and that backfired on me. So always be true to yourself, even when you're filming a reality show. Yes, some of it's a little out there, but you have to, you can't do something that doesn't

resonate well. Yeah. Is my answering your question? I think perfectly, yeah. I mean, you got to say. And I know a lot of, and unfortunately, I've seen cast members in the past where they blur their real life with the reality TV. they can't differentiate. It's very important to keep it in a separate compartment. I have my reality TV and then I have my real life and it's totally separate. A lot of reality stars can't

separate the two and that's not healthy. But is that a tough thing to do because a lot of the reality TV brand personality comes from sharing personal things? Like is that tough to draw those line in the sand for you? Well, what I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, when you're filming you may have to obviously, especially with our show, the Housewives show, it's conflict and resolution. It's constant conflict in resolution. And a lot of times, you know, some of these women don't want to have resolution.

They just get too angry about it. And they just, like, you know, it's a TV show. Just, you know, you have to keep it moving. And they got to keep it moving. And they bring it into their real life when they still are angry, even when the season's over, when it's filmed again, it's like, get over. It's a TV show.

It's entertainment. Life is sure. And then in life, like, I see, I don't believe in holding grudges because that's my personality. I mean, listen, no one can believe I'm the best friends with my ex-husband who spend holidays together. I love them as a person. Holding a grudge, it's just negative energy, just it's poison.

But how do you, so that's so much easier said than done. How do you actually not hold the grudge? You just compartmentalize and let things go, forgive, not forget? You know what? I went to a therapist for a while and she said, you know what, Ramona, what you do is you take it in, you digest it, and then you spit it out. Wow, okay. Otherwise, it causes stress.

and stress causes cancer. And it's much easier to be happy than to be sad. And then if someone really upsets me, I just cut them out of my life. I just won't talk to them. Ramona. I don't try to be vicious. I just like just ignore them.

Your life and business philosophies I can listen to all day. I mean, they make so much sense, but like I feel like we don't talk about these things a lot. So I got a question for you then, knowing that you got really good insight here. But according to business trend survey right now, in 2021, women own just 31% of small businesses or franchises.

and as you know, there is a gender gap in entrepreneurship and, hey, it's still very prevalent in our society. And I know you're very vocal about female empowerment, females in business, females negotiating for themselves. Do you have any tips or things that you would recommend people do to start to change these numbers, to change these odds? Well, I think, you know, right now, I think what people like the most is service businesses. Anything service businesses is people need service businesses. So I would advise the woman to start, she can just start from home, so to speak, or if she has another position of job that she needs to help provide the family, start a service business that she thinks she's good at, whether it be, I don't know what it could be floral arrangements or doing dinner parties or starting up a babysitting business to, you know, to quantify these people and to vet them. And you just can do it. You get an EIN number for like 30 bucks and you put all the money into that account and you can start whatever. service business you want to start you know people can't find great housekeepers so figure out who are the best housekeepers put them under your umbrella under your company and then you can say to

people i know this is a good person i mean whatever your passion is you know but service business i think it's the best way for women to start having her own business with little capital was no capital to tell you the truth work right from your home and it's just it's a service business right exactly and then build up cash and then you can scale accordingly and like like you said it's not like you have to go buy By machinery or it's not like you're going to buy $100,000 of inventory of clothes to flip. Like you could just do your service to get paid and get it going. And just I think like you said, just get your EIN. Go file an LLC.

Just do it. You're already thinking about it. You're your favorite LLC costs money. Start off as an EIN sole proprietorship goes 20 bucks. And then you just open up a bank account under that name. That's it. Done and done right there. Some tips for Ramona.

Ramona, now you're in real estate though. And it's been quite a journey for you. When you look at your real estate career and your professional career, I want to ask you a little bit about it. But the first thing I'm curious, what do you enjoy doing more? Do you enjoy filming for Real Housewives more? Do you enjoy the real estate and business side of things more? Just from a passion perspective. You know, I like it all. I have so much energy. You have no idea. I mean, the things I do during the day. I mean, I'm non-stop. The time I get up to the time I go to bed, I need a lot of things on my plate to keep me entertained. I mean, I just have energy. So I love doing reality TV. I think a really good.

good at it. And as long as I'm having fun, I'll do it. And I've always been interested in business. I mean, I always said if I wasn't in the fashion business, I'd be in the real estate business. And fashion and real estate, they correlate because people want a home to showcase, well, how they live. That's why home decor is so important, you know? And that's why, like, what's now the fashion trend? Fashion trend is grayed and whites and certain stones and modern looking. And yeah, I just, I like sales and I like business. And yeah, it's just, it's all good. And you said Follow your passion. One thing you said is high energy. And I can tell you from all the interviews we watched, I don't think I saw one that your energy wasn't super high and that you were passionate

about it. Is there something you do on a day-to-day basis? Or do you have a focused routine that keeps you so locked in? I usually try to work out in the morning. I'm here in Palm Beach. So at the colony, I have Isaac Boots. I love his classes that people can go online to do him too. He's fabulous. I do walks. I work out. And I play music. I love. love playing music when I wake up. There's this one album. It's called Polynesian Spa. Writing it down right now. Ready where you go? No, it's really good. I'm telling you, Polynesian Spa. And basically, it's like very soothing music with waves and ocean and just very, just, it's beautiful. It's very calming. And it just helps me get my day going.

That's good. I think I should have used that this morning. I have an issue. I'm like you, Ramona, very high energy, but winding down is an issue for me. And sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of night and I'll be up all night. Like last night, I woke up at 2.30, couldn't get back to sleep. I should have to use the Polynesian spot. Now, I'm going to have to check that out. Relax me. It's really good. Just over 20 minutes. It just empty your mind. Just think positive thoughts, and it's really relaxing. You feel like you just had a massage. That is Polynesian spot. Check it off. All right. I want to quickly talk about the real estate. So obviously, you make a transition to fashion, from fashion to reality TV, now real estate. What do you think are some of the big driving

differences that determines success in the real estate brokerage side versus other businesses you've been in? I think all business principles could be translated to any business. So whether it's fashion or real estate or whatever you're doing, you know, you need to be, first of all, very thorough. You have to really know your product, know your product. So if someone wants a certain home, a certain price point, you know, you have to know what they want and research it. So research is important know your customer communication and be you know and just be very positive and passionate about what you're doing i mean i would not sell someone at house or an apartment just to sell an apartment just like i would never sell merchandise just to sell merchandise because you

want to have the referrals you want your customer to be happy so i would never show someone something unless i felt i would want to buy it myself i like that that's a good strategy and do you with the real estate market now i mean of course no one has the magic ball in front of them but there's so many moving parts with interest rates and inflation and how interest rates will go up three times this year and that will definitely i think bring down the prices because right now money is so cheap as the cheapest ever been so and i know right now in the hamptons there's no inventory right in new york city the price you know things are really moving nicely and in florida i mean i found a property from a girlfriend of mine she purchased a customer i said if you don't like make an offer and see it within a day or two

it's going to be gone it was gone right so you're thinking it's it's just a I mean, inventory is just, you snap your fingers, it's gone. So you think we'll see three interest rate hikes. Especially, and the Hamptons, there's no inventory. There's really no inventory here in Palm Beach area. It's all going fast right now. I mean, you know, listen, no one has a crystal ball, but a lot of people, you know, like to live in Florida because of many different reasons. And the Hamptons is just, you know, it's a beautiful place. And now the city's coming back. So the city, things, the prices have gone back up and things are moving now in the city too. That's one thing I say all the time, too. If there's too much buying power out there, there's

too much bidding. And the rates have to go up. And when the rates do go up, to your point, there will be less buying power and likely price points will dip. So it'll be interesting to see if that comes full circle. But you know what? I advise someone if they see something they really like and that you know it's, you know, even if it may it's a little overbeak over price, if they're going to be holding it for 10, 15 years or 10 years, it doesn't matter. Buy what you really have a passion for that you know will be good. You know, it's always location, location, location. And in five years from now, where do you, because, Ramona, you've done so many things and you've, I mean, from the Pino Grigio to the fashion to now real

estate, bet on real housewives. You're the superstar of the show. Oh, HSN. I was the first housewife to be on HSN. First housewife to be on HSN. I mean, your resume. And I called, I called the vice president and I got a meeting. So where did you even? Don't be afraid to get up that phone. So, okay, I can't move on without getting that story. Tell me about getting that story. Basically, my husband and I had the line true faith jewelry and I wanted to be on HSN. So I called up the senior VP. And I said, hey, John, this is Ramona from House House of New York City. I'm on a new TV show. It's showcasing my jewelry. We have a million viewers. And I really want to be on HSN. Can we have a meeting? When are you in New York next? And he met me. And he said,

listen, we really don't want to do any more of the religious jewelry, but let's do a whole jewelry line for you, which we called Ramona's jewelry. And I did a whole jewelry line. I was on for several years. It was very successful. And you cold called this guy yourself. Yeah. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone. And actually, the higher you go, the easier is you get on the phone. Like when I was in the Garmin Center, I would have to call up the senior VPs for meetings because a buyer would place the order. So I didn't even stop at the GM. I called the vice president to store in it. So many takeaways from that. I mean, just ask for what you want. Put it out there.

Find a way to get someone on the phone. And those dreams can become a reality. The last question I want to ask you, Ramona, before we get your trading secret. And your trading secret is something. It's a tip advice to career management, money management. whatever it may be, that we just can't learn in a textbook or learn in a classroom. We could only hear from your experiences, Ramona. But I want to ask you, because your resume is so wild. You've done so much cool shit all over the place. What is, like, when you look at your next five years or ten years, do you have a vision of manifesting

like exactly what you want, or does one opportunity just lead to the next? And what can we expect from Ramona in the next five, ten years? I really, for me, one opportunity has led to another. It just comes to me. And then when you have, it's really good to talk, talk, talk, talk to people, converse because they give you ideas and opportunities will come into your lap and feed off that. Right now, my passion is the real estate. Where will I be in five years?

Maybe still in real estate, probably because it's something you can do anywhere. I can be in any state and get a piece of a commission by finding a property for someone or referring someone. So I don't know. I don't really know. That's a good question. and I just kind of, just, you know, the universe has been very kind to me. Yeah. The universe has been very kind to me.

And, you know, it's just, it's all about positive energy. And I just, I pray to God every day or to the universe. I just, please keep me happy and keep me in abundance and healthy. Yeah. And I think the universe has been so kind to you because you put so much in it, right? You're going, you're moving so many directions daily. You know, just think about this podcast, everything from managing negotiations to dealing with factoring, managing cash flow, getting a business up and going, going on a television show, negotiating for

yourself, selling yourself. Like, you just know how to put so much out. And in return, so much comes back. And being very social and running to home. And networking. And being a mother. Like, I mean, the resume. And a wife. I mean, shit. Ramona. Unbelievable. Well, with all those things, Ramona, that you have under your belt and being wildly, wildly entertaining on television to draw ratings that people just are always tuning in. What is the trading secret that our average listeners sitting at home, maybe trying to figure out their career or manages their finance better or just looking for some insight from someone they look up to? Ramona, what is your trading secret you could leave our viewers with? Well, two things. Number one, you need to wake up happy

every morning. You have to do something every morning that makes you happy is that continues to the day because that gives you that great energy that will manifest with people. The other thing it's what people don't realize, the more money you make, the more money you spend. So therefore, say, I don't care if you're making $10,000 a year, save, $50,000, save. You have to save because that's really important, really important. And just if you don't know what to do, just put in the S&D 500. There you go. It's a TFR.

It is, it is saving. Don't spend everything you make. It's just, you know, just take a portion of it. And I'm sure you've seen it, right? Like in the circles that you surround yourself, you've probably seen people spend exorbitant amounts of money and overspend given their cash inflow. Yeah, I mean, I remember this one woman, good friend of mine, she was living this huge lifestyle, much bigger than mine, much bigger, and then something really bad happened in the business

and she had no money in the bank account. I go, what do you mean you have no money? She had no savings, nothing in trust or a college fund for her kids. I was like shocked, shocked, shocked. Very important. Places you don't want to be, right? And there's things you could do proactively, like you said, whether you're making $10,000 or $100,000, you've got to save, especially in these times with inflation. Yeah, $10 a week, $50 a week. And as you make more money, you put more money away. Solid trading seekers from Ramona Sanger.

Ramona, people that are inspired by your story, your lessons and everything you have going on, where can they find all the stuff that you are doing, and where can they find you on social media if they haven't already? Oh, well, if you go on my Instagram, you can, I'm Douglas Elliman now. So if you're interested in buying something anywhere in the country, I can connect you to the best people because I only like the best for me, so obviously only the best for you. Yes, there it is. I love it. Ramona, it is so exciting to see your career track where you are today and what's next. We'll be following along on your Instagram and your whole entire real estate journey. And we really appreciate you coming on. You are the first real housewife. We have had on trading secrets. The first, yes. I love that. The first housewife. I'm the only OG left in the franchise and I'm the first tier. And we wanted an OG. We're like, we need no G. We got no G. And we really appreciate you telling the stories.

From 2008 to where you are today, especially with the Real House White stuff. Thank you so much for being out. It was really fun chatting with you. Really fun chatting. You made it very easy. It was very easy. I thought I was talking to a friend. Oh, I love it.

Thank you for making it very easy. I love it. Well, maybe one day our pass will cross in New York and we'll grab drinks or something like that. I would love to do that. Amazing. Good stuff. Well, thank you so much for your time. Ding ding! We are ringing in the closing bell with the one, the only, the beauty of all beauties,

the Canadian beauty, the curious Canadian, David Ardoin. David, how are we doing, my man? I'm great. There's a lot of beauties, a lot of Canadians, but I have a question for you because I can tell by the sound of your voice, you're a little down right now, Jay. I need the world to know that you lost their wordal streak today, and I know you're a little emotional about it. So why don't you start there? How are you doing? Me just fumbling on my beauties and Canadian is a complete direct. correlation to this Monday. And this Monday, I'm struggling. I have never not got wordled today. And not only did I somehow screw up whirdle today, David at his record high, getting it in two tries, really frustrating. Yeah, it's a good day for me. It's a good start. Good start to the day. I was

excited for the group. And then, you know, I felt for you. I did. Congratulations, David. I'm proud of you. One thing I know we talked about, David, is I want to kick off every single recap with a quick financial tip, and I want to give a financial tip that's relevant to what's going on right now. So one quick financial trading secret I'm going to give you guys is right now, if you don't know, inflation is 7.9%. And energy costs have increased 26% year over year. The last time we have seen this increase year over year, 7.9%, 26% was over 40 years ago. That was January 1882. Why am I telling you this boring stuff? I'm telling you this because if a year ago, you didn't do anything about accelerating debt paydown, budgeting, and investing.

You were, it was a no-no, but it was okay. And it was okay because inflation was zero. So the cost of doing it wasn't significant. If you are living today in this moment and you hear this and you are not doing anything about budgeting, negotiating, and big time, big time, if you're not thinking about investing, when inflation is 7.9%, it's not a no-no. it's a, you're in deep shit. So I just hate to use a scare tactic,

but the numbers are creating a situation in which it's no longer I want to start investing, I want to start paying down debt, it's you have to. So that is my tip of the week, given inflation where we stand currently with everything happening. And it's a great tip because it's so relevant.

And we were actually talking about this last weekend when you were in Rochester. It was so great to see you and all the boys, by the way. Oh, yeah. And invest, I think when we talked about it, it's just so easy to invest when it's something that you're passionate about and that you're into and you're involved with

or you consume just to make it a little less like scary knowing that we have to do it anyways. Why don't you tell the people what you told me this weekend about VinoVest? Because I thought that was a really cool way of like investing in something that we all consume, which is wine because we'll winos. You know, that's the thing about David.

He might not know everything, when you first talk about it, but your attention, your memory is incredible. As we were drinking wine, yeah, there is this group called VinoVest. They've reached out to me through restart and trading secrets. And so what they do is it's an opportunity to diversify your investment portfolio.

So you go to VinoVest.co, and you could actually invest in wine. I know it's 100% like a crazy concept, but wine is a commodity. wine is stable, unlike the crazy market, and you can actually invest in it. And so when you do invest in it, I have an account, you own 100% of the portfolio. So legally, they're tied to a unique account. So all those wines that I'm investing in, I own them.

VinoVest could go out of business, and I still own them. Not that they're going to. And it gives me, like, I would say, pre-stable returns, especially given all the craziness that's happening in the market. I mean, first quarter of the market, David, and I know we're getting a little off the podcast, but it's important we do this. The first quarter of the market, S&P, and the big indices were down like 22%. And this stayed pretty stable.

So my question to you, David, now I'm going to put it back on you. This reminds me of your crypto talk, vinylvest.com. I told you, if you mentioned trading secrets, they're going to give you two months of free, a fee-free investing. Did you do that? You didn't. Yeah. No, you did it.

I can tell. I was, I didn't know that you were, that I know that you were talking to them about doing something. I don't know it was official. I just wanted, you know, I'm the voice of the viewer. I need to get in there when the viewers are getting in there. Okay. And I'm going to do it. I love that.

All right. So again, I love your honesty. I don't got the spade and sparrows behind me. I can't just invent my own wine label. Ramona talked about selling 10K cases of her pina grigio. I can't do that. I'm going to invest in vinyl vest because Ash and I love to kick back. with a nice glass of red.

There you go. Just like your cryptocurrency, I want an update to make sure you do it. And they're giving it all trading secrets and my restart followers. Everyone has, if you mentioned trading secrets, you're going to get two months fee free on Vino Vest.

So check it out, David. I'm going to keep you, we're diversifying this portfolio, and I'm going to keep you and hold you to it. Vino Vest next week. I want to see your portfolio. Moving on. And you will.

And that was much better than my experience on last week's pod doing an ad read. So congratulations on that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it was funny is this was just an organic placement of a company that I work with. But David had to do the ad reads last week, guys. Those are scripted, paid, you know, pre-roll mid-rolls. Those are like the real deal from Dear Media.

And I was out of town. David had to do them. I want people right now when you're listening to us, how long do you think it took David to read four, four ads? 90-second ad read. 92nd ad read 4 that should be 6 minutes total of audio how long did it take David

do you have your guess are you thinking are you there here we go David tell him how long it took me 2 and a half hours to do 4 ad rate it took me 147 takes

I have them all saved I have to get a blooper roll going it was Ashley was laughing her head off in the other room it was terrifying it's so nerve-wracking and for you people at home who think it's just like word for word verbatim

they give you four pages you could do this you could talk up with this but make it your own make it organic don't make it sound like an ad read use it's like people come on here it was exhilarating and frustrating but I thought and I'd love to hear from you guys I thought I kind of crushed it

all right guys give us feedback give us ratings we're looking for five stars and in the comments let us know last episode did David nail the four ad reads or not because it took him two and a half hours. All right, David, we've been bantering about Vino Best ad reads, all this bullshit, all this good stuff. But we're here for Ramona Singer.

Give me your thoughts on the episode. Well, I watch a lot of reality TV and a lot of, you know, Bravo and we watch Below Deck, we watch Summer House, we watch Too Hot to Handel, we watch The Bachelor, Joe Millionaire. I've always been terrified of the people from Real Housewives. They're just so another level intense. It doesn't matter if it's New York City,

Atlanta, Salt Lake City. I was, she gave me exactly what I was expecting, which is the intensity. She's obviously brilliant. She's smart. She's a go-getter. She's a hustler. And from all that, I have some definitions because sometimes she just talked over my head. So I know if I, you know, people always, I hear it in the comments.

I hear when people are talking about our podcast. They love when I bring up things that I don't know because chances are there's someone out there who doesn't know. So if you're ready, I got some. some hitters for you. I'm ready. And David, that is exactly why you're curious Canadian. If anyone ever asked, like, why did you think of David? Well, one, he already mentioned it. He literally knows pop culture better than me. He listens and watches every single reality show. That's step one. Step two, humble, great communicator. Very connected with his emotions and is

vulnerable. Got to love that. And step three is he is perfect because when we go over business stuff, he's the voice of viewer and can fire away questions. So David, this is why you're perfect for the role. What questions you got? Let's go. I'm not afraid to make fun of myself, like a two and a half hour to do four ad reads. All right. So the first one she talked about, and you mentioned it in the episode that we would recap it. So we have to recap it. And I didn't know about it. So it's a perfect combination. She talked about factor. In her business transaction, she got a factor. I have no clue what it is, truly no clue in this sense. What is a factor? So think about factoring as if suppose you do a deal, David, right? Like we've done on this podcast. And unfortunately,

we have to wait so long to get paid. So we have to wait all this time to get paid for accounts receivable because they go to like 90 days. Well, if we had like serious costs to support this podcast, which we don't, we'd be screwed because it takes so damn long to get the money. What factoring does is like they will come in and they will say, listen, you guys already read the ads, you did the podcast. You're going to give me 10% of what you do in ad money. But the second read those ads two days later, the money's in your account, right? So suppose those four ad reads you read last episode, we won't see that money for probably three, four months, right? And so what this does factoring, the guy comes and says, David, you spent two and a half hours, you read those

ads. We're going to get, I'm going to take some of the money, but tomorrow the cash will be in your account. So that's what was big for her business, is she didn't have to take out big loans because when she sold, she instantly got paid on the accounts receivable in that. also minimizes a risk for a business because if people owe you money for long periods of time, there is a likelihood or chance those businesses go out of business, you don't get paid at all. Then you're really screwed. Is it a common thing in negotiation tactics or business to get a factor? It depends on the type of business, what you're selling and how intensive capital is for your business. But in the banking world, we came across factoring here and there when working with

other businesses. I wouldn't say every deal you're seeing factoring, but here and there. And you mentioned 90 days to get paid on something or three months, you know, four months for us to get paid. 90 days is three months, David. Nice one. Nice play there. To get paid to get paid on some things. She said she negotiated 10 days ROG. I think that's kind of in the same ballpark of what you're talking about. So yeah, 10 days ROG. ROG. Receita good. So what she's saying there is what you could do, David, is you could actually take a discount from someone and then you can get paid quicker without going through this third party of factoring. So essentially imagine we go to Dear Media and we say, listen, I know you're going to pay us for these ads that David just read

for two and a half hours last week in 90 days. Take 5% off the top and we'll take it in 30 days. So she negotiated to get paid money from the big companies quicker and faster. And she's took a little hit for doing it similar to factoring same idea all right i got two more for you fire one i hear all the time one of our best friends is in the business it's private label now you hear it all the time uh oh i work in private label or this is a private label for that can you just give us a quick couple quick examples maybe for some different industries on examples of private label and how they're you know a function of you know really companies are private label company. So, yeah, just clear that out. Because I think it's one of those terms

are, oh, yeah, you're in private label, cool. And it's just like, you turn around, like, I have no fucking clue what they're talking about. Yeah, I think the idea of private label is think, go back to manufacturing, right? So it's manufactured by one company. So let's say it's, it's my, let's come up with this, come on. Can I talk, can I throw an out there? Yes. Can you have a company that makes potato chips, but you actually don't have a brand. You just make the chips and you're a private label brand and you sell the chips to Wegmans and Walmart and all those stores. Yep. It's literally just break it down in simple terms. It's a product that's manufactured by one company sold under another. Okay. Right. That's very good.

So it's sold. And that dude, the crazy thing is, is you just brought up chips, but like this happens with coffee a lot. Like they're big manufacturers of roasters where like so much of United States coffee comes from. And it's the same roast. they just label it differently. I got to bring this up because the friend that work, the friend that has private label, the chip brand, Funded Food, he just texted me and he goes,

are you going to Boston for the book tour? I love that. Wait, what's his private label? What's it called? His Funday food is the company. Funday food and what is, tell me about the company. What do they do? He manufacturers, kettle chips,

but crazy flavors. like glazed donut and salt the caramel and everything bagel and they are they didn't last long let's just say nine bags didn't last nine minutes in this house so so this is an example where that he had probably hasn't manufactured somewhere else right and then he branded him himself but what he could do is if this branded him himself but what he could do is if this is like you said glazed donut they could put that on crispy cream. They could be crispy cream chips. He is the distributor. It's still his product, but it's labeled crispy cream chips. That's another example. Fonday foods, got to check it out. We'll talk it over in Boston in the book tour. We're running out of time, but I have a couple hypothetical questions that she brought up in her experiences that I want to ask you about yours. Okay. The first is she said that when she was first getting started in this industry, her boss said that she had to sell a million dollars in inventory in two weeks, which is just

crazy. I want to know in the corporate America version of Jason, what is the, and this might be putting you on the spot, what is the craziest corporate America work test that you were ever asked to do? Oh my God. Really? You asked me to do this now? This much time? I can think of literally

so many of these, but I'm going to go to one and I want you to think about this. It's been a long work week. You already don't like your job. You're dealing with bosses and people that just are really, you're knocking along with. It's Friday. All you're thinking about is that nice cold brusky that's going to come towards the end of the workday, and it's coming. It's three, four o'clock.

You're there. And all of a son, boom, you get a call from a client that because of this is perfect tie-in, because they bought too much product or something happened that was outlying their entire line of credit, $3 million, is now completely tapped out. And the same line of credit is being used to pay their employees. So there's 285 employees this Friday that didn't get their paycheck because, or the next day when it clears, aren't going to get paid, won't be able to feed their kids and their family or pay their bills because the line of credit is tapped. And now I'm getting the call at Friday at 4 o'clock that we need approval. And at a bank, it doesn't just, you don't just click a button. You have to go through this whole process of compliances and approval. And you can

imagine like the stress and anxiety that causes in the whole inside of the bank. And also kind of how foolish it makes me look because it makes me look like a bad banker that doesn't know exactly what's happening with your company's line of credit that you're managing. Problem is I wasn't ever incentivized or most of the time wasn't really incentivized to be monitoring that little small stuff. I was more focused on getting new deals. So I would get law, you know, things like that would fall under the under the radar and that was a disaster. I'm sweating thinking about it. Next topic. That's when you bring the happy hour beers inside to the office to make sure those deals get done. But you just got to get it done. You have no choice. Those are like fire drills and you go.

Got to do it. You asked her about her doubters. Like, what do you say to your doubters or people who doubted your success, your path? We started these businesses. And her response is pretty cool. She said, you always have to have a master plan. You know, she went into some more detail on what that is and how she, you know, created her own master plan and her success. You know, you obviously have doubters. You have haters. You have people who probably still to this day, even though you've proven it time and time again, think that you're just here because you got lucky and we're on a reality TV show. Obviously, you're building something pretty cool between restart and obviously our podcast that I'm so lucky to be a part of. You got the book coming out. I want to know for your

doubters and haters, what is your master plan? When you look at back at all this, what, what is your master plan on what you want to do? What impact do you want to have in the businesses that you started that you found or you got to be a part of? Great question. This could be a full podcast. I'm going to try and make it pretty quick. But I think with the haters, too, is like, when I started the idea of restart, the amount of people that were like, dude, what the fuck are you doing? Like, go back to work. This is stupid.

It's going to amount to nothing was literally astronomical. And part of the plan was first build a community. We built a community. People wouldn't think we got the following. We got the following. We got the newsletter. We built a team. Reinvested it.

Built a podcast. We have the two books. Have investments in a trading app. It is coming together and it is coming together so well. And the same haters two years ago that said never would. If you told them where we were today, they'd be like, damn, you guys are going on a book tour? Like, wait, what? So that's step one, right?

And I think the master plan here, though, is continuing to build off this and to build a community where when you have a financial or career management question, we have the answer, but we not only have the answer, we have the product. That's my goal. So when David Ardoin comes to me and says, hey dude, I'm in the market for a new car loan, boom, you come to restart, you go to the website, you input what exactly you need, you got your answer, and it's the best solution for you, almost like a Kelly Blue Book for all things financing career. And we'll slowly get there. It's going to take time, but that's the plan. That's amazing. And honestly, I feel like the world is trending in that direction where it's becoming more like important. Did you see that Florida just passed, I don't know if it's a bill or whatever you call it, but every high school. diploma has to have a class in financial literacy now, which I love that. I absolutely love that. So all those people out there, all the haters, use it as fuel, use constructive criticism to implement

when necessary. But you know what? Just keep driving because the same people that are hating are the same people that are hating because they're feeling the insecurity of not doing. And like you have heard on every damn guest that's come on this podcast, it's the failure that creates the lessons. It's the lessons that creates the growth. Amen. I got one more question. It's a numbers question. It has to do with Ramona. I have to ask it to you because she didn't give us the number. You know I'm the numbers guy. If I was on the podcast, she's too scary, so I wouldn't have asked her anyways. She said that she negotiated for her first season, 7,500 an episode while others did six episodes for 7,500. She said it ended up going 12 episodes plus reunion. She made about 50K

for the season. You asked her if that grew over time because reality TV kind of squeezes people in this box and they make their money for business ventures after the show. But she said Bravo takes care of their talent, especially their long-term talent. 15 seasons, I think she did.

What do you think she made per season at the end of it? It's wild because I knew you were going to ask me before that and I got excited. What's wild is I think she mentioned the Bravo thing because she must have just been under contract because David, didn't you just tell me she's not renewed for this season? yeah i just put that on you like right before we hit record but there's a the fact i get people

magazine emails shows you how just like sometimes i'm like what are you doing but i guess bravo is rebooting real housewise of new york city and doing a complete recast from scratch so romona singer's out they said they might do like a real housewives of new york legacy yeah that will feature some of the old ones but as far as like the new season like it just came out today like on Wednesday. See, I wish we would, I wish we would have, I wish we would have got her before this, because I feel like she was, Bravo takes care of people because she was probably undergoing negotiation. But yeah, 7,500 per season per episode in the first, first season. All the research I've done says she's paid around 500K per season now, which is, is, you know, the largest,

I saw the biggest contracts about two, two and a half million per season. So 500K, not renewed. That's what I've seen. It was interesting, though, to learn that 7,500 per episode is where they started. That was interesting. That she negotiated. That she negotiated. It's very huge performance. It's not quite a huge performance.

It's not getting close. I love it. David, you got anything else for me? No, I'm good. Gearing up for the National Championships next week. There we go. Well, good luck for national championships.

Guys, this is episode is with Ramona Singer, the real housewife. And next week, I'm back in the hot seat. David is going to be interviewing me all on the restart roadmap. And as you guys know, the beauty of David interviewing me is we have that deep friendship, that understanding that nothing is off limits. And we've learned from times before where things were off limits, and you won't see that again. So make sure you tune in next episode.

Make sure you pre-order your copy of the Restart Roadmap. You could do that at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the restartrodomat.com. And David and I and some others are going on tour, starting April 4th to April. 11th. We may be in a city near you, so go to the restart roadmap.com. Check where we'll be grab a ticket, pre-order a book. We will see you next Monday for another episode of training secrets, one you can't afford to miss. in the dream.