Trading Secrets - 72: Daniella Monet: From Nickelodeon TV star & films to nutritional business ventures, the $ecrets to her major success REVEALED. PLUS, $13k/month copywriting? Our listener, Shawnna tells us how!

Episode Date: October 3, 2022

This week, Jason is joined by actress and singer turned entrepreneur, investor, and food and lifestyle advocate Daniella Monet!      Many may know Daniella from her television and movie performances over the last 20 years, including Victorious, Zoey 101, and Nancy Drew, but after years of appearing on television screens, she has gone on to pivot from acting to focus on the development of her nutritional  business and investments. She has been exercising her entrepreneurial spirit by paving the way for vegan companies to make a mark on the industry. Daniella gives insight to why she doesn’t have an agent, how money was a topic of conversation while growing up, why she made the decision to be a vegan, how she decides to make her investments,  and how she started her app Daniella’s Digest. Daniella also reveals how many different side hustles she has had and which was the most profitable, her secret to memorizing lines, why she chose to get her GED equivalent to give herself more opportunities in the entertainment space, and what she would invest in right now if given a million dollars. Do films or television shows pay better? What should consumers know when deciding to go vegetarian or vegan? What was the worst investment she ever made? What is next for Daniella?   PLUS, Jason chats with listener Shawnna about the world of copywriting. Shawnna breaks down what a day in the life of a copywriter can look like, the different education paths that can be taken, what the income looks like, and how she went on to double her income in less than six months by starting her own business. What exactly is copywriting? What is her best advice when it comes to taking a leap of faith?    All of that is revealed and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!     Be sure to follow the Trading Secrets Podcast on Instagram & join the Facebook group.   Sponsors: Shopify.com/secrets to start selling online today ZocDoc.com/tradingsecrets to download the FREE ZocDoc app today   Host: Jason Tartick Voice of Viewer: David Arduin Executive Producer: Evan Sahr   Produced by Dear Media.   Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. We have a jam-packed episode today. We have Daniela Monet coming on the podcast, an actress and singer, turn entrepreneur, investor, investor, food, and lifestyle advocate. She has so much to share about her TV work, her movie worked as an actress, the ins and outs, some of the ugly conversations with management and agencies, working with Nickelodeon, and of course, her passion for the vegan industry. This is a wild episode. It's a wild

episode with Daniela. It's a wild episode because we have another trading secrets viewer on talking about the copyright business, something I knew nothing about. It's a quick 10-minute segment to hear about what money you can make in the copyright business, what the business is, maybe how it could help you or your businesses, and how to get in it if you are interested. And of course, we recap with the one, the only, the curious Canadian. Hey, guys, last thing I got to say before we ring in this opening bell, we are still looking for a name, for our listeners, for our viewers. We have heard some amazing ones in the comments, but we haven't narrowed one yet.

So make sure to go to Apple and give us a five-star review and put any suggestions you have for what we should call our listeners. And if we call them one you suggested, I'm reaching out to you. I'm sending you 100 bucks. Enough of me. Let's ring in the bell, the opening bell, with the one and only, Daniela Monet. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today I am joined by actress and singer-turned entrepreneur investor and food and lifestyle advocate, Danielle Monet. Many of you know Daniela from her numerous TV and movie performances over the last 20 years, specifically on shows such as Victoria's Zoe 101 and Nancy Drew, but that list goes on. Aside from her acting roles, she has hosted this sketch comedy series, Awesomeness TV, in the game show Paradise Run.

However, what you may not know is that after years of appearing on television screens, Monet has pivoted from acting to focus on the development of her vegan-based business and investments. From the food industry to cosmetics, she is exercising her entrepreneurial spirit by paving the way for vegan companies to leave a mark on the industry. Today, we are going to dive into how she got in the world of child acting, her love for a healthy lifestyle, and how she leveraged all of those unique life experiences to put her in the businesses she is in today. Danielle, thank you so much for being here today. Thanks, Jason. This is so awesome. This is, and you are fresh from Scottsdale. We were just getting into that. So we're going to talk all things here. But where I really want to start, I think one of the cool things you've done is you've pivoted in so many different directions. And it started at such a young age. So I want to go back to that because I think that has a big impact on where you are today, which is what we're going to talk about. But a childhood actor, right? This past weekend, we were at Sarah Highland's wedding. And her dad gave us a speech, and during the speech, who's telling a story about when he auditioned.

and that at the same movie or show it was, Sarah was four years old, also auditioning. And he's telling that story. It was tough for me to comprehend, but then I'm seeing the age that you started acting. How at that age do you get into acting in a role like that? Like, how do you even find an audition at eight years old? It's a great question. You know, I grew up in L.A., actually in the Valley, but like L.A. adjacent, and I was very outgoing.

I think back, and I'm like, wow, I feel bad for my parents. I remember always wanting to have some sort of performance or dance routine going. So I think my parents realized early on that I needed an outlet. And because we were kind of in the world a bit or close enough, they put me in auditions. And one thing led to another and a lot of highs, a lot of lows. But I really enjoyed performing. And so it felt really natural and fun. And I always used to say like, yeah, it's probably weird.

You know, a lot of my friends are going to soccer practice or like doing a play and I'm like away doing a Barbie commercial and that's just, that was normal for me. That is so wild. Do you remember like the first big gig you got as a kid and what was that process like? Wow. Well, outside of commercials, I started slowly. So I really did a lot of commercials for the majority of my childhood. But I'd say the first real gig was when I was about 14 years old.

I booked my first series for CBS. It was a show called Listen Up. It was with Jason Alexander and Malcolm Jamal Warner. And it was just like the most, it felt like everything around me just changed very quickly. Like I went from doing jobs here and there to like being on a consistent series that was actually like quite a commute from my house. So I wasn't home very much at all. Pulled out of school. When I wasn't filming, we were traveling.

You know, I remember being in New York at the Carnegie Hall doing the upfronts for our show. And being on stage as like a 13, 14 year old, I borrowed my cousins like gathers. like, gown from her prom. Like, what was I doing? Like, it was all very new and wild, and it just, I guess it just set the precedence for, like, what could come. And that was like, yeah, a turning point for me. That is a wild economy. The reason I brought Scottsdale up in the beginning, guys, is because I wanted to circle back to that. Because one of the things you had said, I was like, man, I remember the days we partied there. We were at bottle service. And Danielle said that, like, her child was a little different. Like, it's not like you went to clubs like we were

going to in our teens and 20s. And so I think about your childhood as a high school student, 14 years old. People like you said are getting ready for like homecoming and prom and stuff like that. How were you educated like through like did you, like how do they keep students abreast at 14 years old? And how do you try and manage pursuing your career at such a young age, but also pursuing like the lifestyle that all your other friends and students are going through? It was really hard. It was really hard mentally for me. And I remember when I was in sixth grade, that's when my middle school started. And not only was middle school starting where it was very different from elementary school,

I was also like kind of peaking in my career at the same time. Like I had tested for a show Hannah Montana. I had tested for several other projects that were like kind of bigger deals for me. For every, I mean, Hannah Montana, huge. Yeah, huge. For sure. It's like the pinnacle of that. Yeah.

And I just was like trying to balance school because I am a, perfectionist in some ways. I just never want to let people down and I want to be the best at like almost everything that I do. And doing that and adjacent to a new school and all that was really hard. And I knew that I wasn't going to last. I knew that I couldn't do school and also succeed in my career. Even though I was so young, I said, I can do school. I'll just have to take that outside of the actual school and homeschool. So I did at like eighth grade, the beginning of eighth grade, I convinced my mom that I could like school myself. And so I did independent study until I convinced them that I didn't need school and I went

and got my GED essentially. So at what age was that that you pretty much made that? When I was done, done with school. I was about 16 years old and I at the time had booked a movie called Taking Five where I was the youngest in the cast and I had to film in Utah. And so in order for me to go and it not be a huge headache on production, they said we're only hiring like adults. And so in our world, if you don't have schooling, you are technically, you can work as an adult. There won't be hourly issues. So I said, I want to do this movie. It's in Utah.

I know I'm only like 16 time, but like I'm going to do my high school equivalency exam, which was like this like three hour bogus test in the middle of Korea down in this sketchy building. You pay a bunch of money. You go upstairs. And I'm not the only one. I'm not even the only one. I won't even mention who told me about it. So I went and I took this test and I passed and I was like, cool, could do the movie. And now I don't have to worry about school anymore. I was not a school kid. It is so wild. So to get your GED, you got to go through this process, this three-hour test. Do you have to like prepare for that test? Or is it pretty like basic questions? I'm sure that I did try to prepare. But I think it was, to be honest, if I'm, I think that

they, if you pay the right amount. Sure, of course. It might be actually hard to fail, is my guess. it's different than the GED. There's like another form that you can do. And I think there's other ways you could be emancipated where you basically claim that like you're more responsible than your parents in some ways. I don't know. There's many loopholes, but that was the route I took. I love.

So one thing I talk about often is like breaking the blueprint. I think society kind of puts us down this path and will lead our lives for us unless we take leadership of our lives. And so many people go their entirety of their lives and careers and personal lives being led and then they have that moment in the 30s or 40s or 50s, to think about you breaking the blueprint like this and finding a way to get your GD to go full speed at 15, 16, like it's almost incomprehensible. It's wild. Another question I have for you, though, if you do that, obviously you're all in with this career track.

And obviously there has to be some really solid financial success to come with it because if it doesn't work out, I guess you've got to go back through that process and then go through the SATs, go to the college. How did you negotiate your value at such a young age? That's a great question. I don't know. I think I just banked on myself winning, and I knew that if I didn't, that I'd always have a fallback. So, like, I didn't take the traditional school route, but I knew that in order to have a fallback, I had to do something. So any time that I wasn't consistently working, I always had side jobs, always.

Like, I've worked in many different worlds. But I also went to school at, like, a local community college, and I went and got my real estate, license and I went and got my personal training degree. Like, I just was like, I have the freedom. I know I'm young, but like I have the freedom to just try things. And I want to be like, I guess, well-versed. And I liked working. So I don't know. I just think I always felt like I could figure it out. Of all the side hustles you had, what do you think was the most obscure and what was the most profitable? Oh, gosh, there's a lot. So the most obscure, let me think, I was slinging some high-end jewelry. Come on, really? Yeah. So I used to

make jewelry just as fun for fun. And I would send it to, I would like sell it to wardrobe stylist for things that I was working out. Like I wore a lot of it in Nancy Drew, which was like a film and it got some PR. So I had like a little bit of confidence from that. So I walked into this shop that had like really beautiful jewelry, custom like high end jewelry. Somehow I like convinced them 15 that I could like work their counter and had like people like Jessica Simpson and the Kardashians. Like that's kind of how I fell into like not necessarily their lap, but like met them. worked at their store dash and it was like everything that i worked at always fell into the next opportunity and to be honest the first investment that i made in the vegan space was actually through

a chef that i worked for kind of illegally like we they didn't they paid me under the they didn't even pay me i said don't pay me for working at this restaurant i will work for food and tips i just want to be here because the food was so good and i was a vegan who didn't have many options at that time And I would have never met the chef who is now our chef at Outstanding Foods, which is the first company I ever invested in had I not been 16 years old begging for a job just for food. So how many years ago was that relationship built? Oh, man.

Well, let me think. 10 plus. Yeah, easy 15 plus. 10 plus in full circle. Now he's managing and working with one of your investments. I mean, that's right there such a huge takeaway. One person, one relationship could lead to so many other things down the road. When you were a childhood actor, when you think about that career, it's given you the flexibility to make some of the investments and pursue some of the passions that you have now.

At what point from a financial standpoint were you in a position where you're like, I'm good now? I don't need these side hustles. I'm in a spot where I can start doing other things and pursuing other dreams. It was when I got victorious and I didn't have the time or flexibility anymore. That show really sort of consumed me. I was about, I turned 19 when we shot the pilot. And it was like the second thing started to go. It was full speed ahead.

We didn't have downtime. We worked really long hours. And that was okay. And the side hustles during victorious became like side hustles for Nickelodeon. Like, do you have time to shoot a commercial or can you work with this brand or can you go do a concert here or whatever? So that just, yeah, that was how that changed. That's crazy. And so do you have an agent that manages all that for you?

And like how do you decide which agent to work? work with. That's a great question. I actually don't have an agent at the moment. Come on. I don't have an agent at the moment. You know, I realized at some point in my career that like there were too many cooks in the kitchen. Okay. And I'm, I just felt like who's doing what here. And like, why does it feel like, your check was this much? How's that work? What did you do to earn that? And also like the relationship matters. And if you feel like you're with like this great big agent, that's great and all. But like, if you can't call that person and be like, hey, I don't want to do this and this is the kind of stuff I want to be working on. They don't get you as a person. I just needed like, I work with a manager

and I've been with them for a while now. And he's like the same age as me. We actually grew up in the same area with similar common interests. Like I could just literally be super honest with him. And that to me was more important than having some glitzy, glamorous agent. Gotcha. Yeah. I mean, we've had so many people come on and talk about just issues they've had with. agents and how they found successful people and the interview tactics they use to now work with the right people. And so it's interesting to hear your perspective that. So would you say yourself manage then? Yeah, a little bit. Like to a certain extent? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I think I need him for certain things for sure and he's been really supportive. But I just wanted to feel like I could

have a little bit more control. That's cool. So the less, the better. I love it. All right, I want to get into auditioning a little bit because I think a lot of people ask me, give me interview tips or I really struggle when I'm on pressure, like how to deal with these certain scenarios. I have to imagine audition is like the quintessential moment of pressure, performance, delivery, execution, something you've had to do over and over. So what tips would you give to someone out there that might struggle in that setting or might struggle when they have a big interview being someone that's had to do it over and over again? Without drugs?

Oh, man. I never tried anything. What good drugs are there? Oh man. No, I remember like later on in my career, I was, I was feeling more of the pressure. And that's when things just don't go well, right? Like when you put more pressure on yourself or you feel like you absolutely need this job, the most success I ever had was when the steamroll, it was all happening, right? Like, and you're riding that wave and there's that confidence and you can walk into the room. And in a lot of ways, like, I would actually tell myself, like, I'm, I'm the shit. This is going to be fine. Like, I'd have to tell, I'd have to sell myself that like, they They want this to work, Danielle.

Like, they want you to do well. They want you to be the one, right? Like, I think in a lot of ways, you walk into a room and you instantly feel that pressure and that, like, judgment almost or like they're waiting for you to fall. But in a lot of ways, like, it's the opposite. They really want this to work. They want this to be easy. They want you to be the one.

And that helped me, like, change my mindset. Yeah, that was it. Like, I don't have any major tips. And like I said, later in life, I remember talking to someone who I said, I just hate it. auditioning. And any time it was like a bigger deal or a bigger opportunity, I'd feel more and more pressure. They'd be like, oh, you don't take beta blockers or whatever. I was like, no, I haven't done anything. Oh, we've talked all about beta blockers on this podcast. It's crazy. I was like, I'm terrified. I don't even take Tylenol. Yeah. Let alone beta blockers. Wow. So drug free,

she killed. I like, it's almost like you're, it's a form of manifestation, right? I guess like it's self-convincing that they're not there to judge you or to not give you the opportunity. In fact, it will make their life a lot easier if you are the best version of Daniela, and that's what worked for you. So also a takeaway then, would you say shoot when you're hot? Like, is that when you are doing your best? Like, you're building, like you close one opportunity. That's the best time to close the next one.

Absolutely. Also, though, like, let's say at some point after a few years of being off, I will go back. But I think the conversation that I will have is more or less like, look at how much I've accomplished in such a short period of time. And, like, I know what my value is and I know what I can bring to the table and I know my niche. Like, I know what my skill set is. And I have more confidence in that today. Whereas, like, as a kid, I would be like, what can I book?

Like, I'm just ready. Throw me in coach. Now I'm like, nah. Like, I know exactly what lane I feel best in. And that's what I want to go after. And that's where I'll probably do my best. So I love it. And a lot of that financial independent is what's giving you the opportunity to get into some of the veganism

opportunities. Hold on. We're going to talk a little bit about those. shortly. You said you just an instant, an interesting question that sparked a new question, as you said, I know my value. I'm thinking 15, 16, you're getting excited about the opportunities. But are, even at a younger age, like 10, 11, 12, are your parents or managers, are they like telling you how much you're getting paid? Do you have any clue of the financial side about it at that age? And who the hell? Like, how do they manage that? Like, you don't have a checking account

at 12. You don't have a credit card at 9. Like, how does that get managed for you? I don't know. a different kind of being, I guess, because from a young age, I cared a lot about money. I grew up in a very, like, normal family where money was just talked about. Like, there was money around, like, stress around money. My dad was kind of like an entrepreneur. My mom was kind of an entrepreneur. So, like, it wasn't weird for me to, like, know exactly what I was making. That was, like, very common knowledge.

And I also cared a lot, right? Like, I wanted the checking. I remember in elementary school, I opened one. In elementary school? Yeah, they had like a, actually it was pretty cool now that I think about it. I don't know if anyone else does this, but they had like a banking class where you can learn about checking

and then you can open one. And so I was like, I'm opening one. See, they need more of that. They need more of that. They need to teach that in our schools. For sure. And in elementary, you had it done. That's unbelievable.

Well, I'm sure there was some sort of catch like the bank's like, it's only going to cost you X amount in interest or something shit. And we'll start them young. They're still at the same institution. Yeah, I am. See? I went from Western whatever to now chase.

I love that. I love that. Yeah. So that's, that's an early thing that I think I developed and I was always curious. And I just wanted to make sure I had my own back. Yeah, that's really cool. Television or films, which pay better? Oh, wow. Very different. Television to me is my preference because there's potentially, I mean, people would argue it both ways, but I think there's more potential long term. Like if you get on a show that could do well, like, and you're willing to put in that time long term, you can have more success that way. Film is an easy, well not easy, but it's a quicker paycheck.

Got it. And I think film stars in general, if you're looking at it, they make more. Films, okay, got it. And is there, like, in the industry, is there a preference of which way? Or is it more based on skill set? I think it's both. But I think personally, if I'm talking for myself, I prefer television. I also just prefer half hour, which is like sitcom, that's more my vibe.

But I think if you're talking to someone who prefers more drama, single cam, that sort of thing, they're going to talk. that they're going to say they want more film on their belt. Like that's like more their style. Interesting. Okay. A whole world, I don't know too much about Justin, I don't know you know much about it. We got Justin here. He's hanging out with us, but we're learning we're learning some more about the behind the scenes

of it. What about memorization of lines? I think a lot of people out there just struggle with memory and in all forms of their business or jobs. What are things that you would do to like really ingrain these lines into your memory and take true character like through the whole process? Because I think

There's so many people out there, whether it's like a sales pitch or it's like even if there's a doctor trying to memorize it in med school. Like what are things that you do to memorize lines that people could implement in their life? Listening, like making sure that you are listening to the other lines because that's your biggest cue. So like for me, I'm very visual. So I could actually kind of see like the size of the line, which makes probably little sense. But if you're looking at my hands, it's like I can see that it's like, oh, a few sentences. And if I'm listening to the question, they're saying like, hey, Jessica. I'm like, oh, well, clearly that's the line with, like, this much in it.

Yeah. And I know how to respond to a high. So, like, it kind of just fits like a puzzle. Okay. And specifically with, like, my style, which is what I said, like, sitcom, there's like a, there's like a flow to it. Okay. There's like a feeling.

There's like a, you know when the joke's coming, you know how to hit it. You know how to find it. You know how to break. You know how to, like, there's all these different feelings around it. So it's very natural. Interesting. And then with drama, I'd say it's a little different where, like, you know, you know, I'm, you know, That's a lot more, I guess, like, you're more invested in yourself.

You're like more, you're having to think through it a little bit more because there's so much feeling and emotion. But as long as you're in it and you're listening and it really feels natural, the words, if you've read them a few times, like, should make sense. But if it's not written to your style, it's a little bit harder to memorize. Got it. Interesting. And how many times would you say, like, do you have to reshoot a scene because, like, someone screws up the line? Like, behind the scenes, I know those viewers, especially the Curious Canadian. He's going to want to know that in the recap. Stay tuned to the recap.

But how many times you have to reshoot a scene because someone screws their lines up? I mean, at minimum a handful, at minimum. Gotcha. So that's pretty normal pro. Like, if you're a one-line wonder and you're just crushing it, that's like a rare circumstance. Oh, yeah, they wouldn't because there's so many other things. Like you're getting other angles with three cameras, like a sitcom, there's more chances to get it in like a few shots. But if you're doing a single cam, like you're having to get a wide, you're having to get a single.

having to get a flip of like, you know, the other person's reaction. It's like a lot more goes into it. So you have a little more chance to do it a different way. And with sitcom, it's like, it's more, I don't know, it's more playful and it's more fun. And if you mess up and you flub and it like, you know, it's funny. It still works. It still plays as long as it plays. That is so fascinating.

Who in all of your history of your entire resume, would you say is like the most talented individual you ever worked with professionally? There was a lot of talent on Victoria. Like a ton of talent. That roster was stacked. Wow. And they all came from like something awesome. And they're like triple, quadruple hits, right?

So like they've got the singing, the dancing, all the things. So like, I don't know. I mean, just going off of what's happening right now. Like I'd say, Arias, like Ariana is probably incredibly talented. And you're in your music video too, right? Yeah. Yeah. That's another cool thing to throw on your eyes of it.

Yeah, that was so random. But yeah, I will am. That is so cool. I love it. All right, last question as we transition into the whole business entrepreneurial side of your resume. What has been like the most profitable marquee moment for you in your acting career? Oh, most profitable. Well, I'd say working with Nickelodeon for sure.

And I've had this conversation a lot recently and I'll be completely transparent. You don't make a lot like with like victorious per se. It wasn't like I was getting paid more on my network show at like 14 years old than I was. Oh, yeah. Why is that? What's interesting is I remember being talked out of Nickelodeon and Disney. When I tested for Hannah Montana, my agent at the time, and this goes back to the whole, like, who's your agent? Who knows your brand?

Yeah, who knows your brand? Yeah. Talked me out of auditioning for Disney and Nickelodeon. I actually went behind their back to test for Hannah Montana through my manager at the time. Because I said, I was young. I was 16 years old. I want to be on shows that are fun that, like, speak to me that, like, something I would watch or my friends would watch. And even though network had this like great appeal and there was all these different perks and like you could definitely pivot more into film from that like catapult, I had this feeling that like being on a show on Disney or Nickelodeon longevity wise would establish me more as like a brand I can grow with it.

And so I went to test for Hannah Montana and I'd say even though that didn't pan out, it definitely made me feel like I was in the right place. And that's when Nickelodeon started to come into play. And I'd say even though I didn't make the most on victorious, it was the best, best decision. That had the greatest impact. The greatest impact. Interesting. I mean, following alone, first of all, I would have never done social media. They set me up with like an Instagram.

They sent me up with like a Twitter. And they encouraged us. They really kind of gave us that like 101 before even anyone knew what they were doing with it all. Interesting. They saw it coming. And so, and like, not that you want to be overly exposed, but like being on. backpacks and being on all the happy meals and having games and shit. Like that helps a little, right? I don't make anything off of it. I don't make a penny off of it. So your manager that

did that discourage you for the Nickelodeon deal. Do you think your agent that did? Do you think that was because of the dollars? Because he or she would make less because it's Nickelodeon versus another opportunity? Partially, yes. It doesn't, it didn't have that same, I don't know, like effect that people, I think, would look at it now. Like, we've got the Selena Gomez, we've got the dummy. Like, everyone's kind of had some sort of fame since I was a kid. Sure. It's changed that landscape a little bit.

But I don't think it was so much about the money. I think it was truly just an image thing. Like, to go from a network show where I was playing with the big dogs, like there was all this, like, hype around me, like cover of TV guide, like Cosma. It was just a lot at once. And I was still, I felt like I was a kid in an adult world. Yeah. And I just wanted to do.

what I was doing but still be around peers and I was missing that. And so I think they thought that I would catapult more into like film or just network TV for a little bit longer and that was a better image. But I just didn't like I didn't agree. It's so fascinating to hear like just the behind the scenes of like the perceptions of certain things and what people think your career trajectory is because you're on network versus Nickelodeon. It's something obviously as a viewer we never think about.

But it comes so much into play when you think about you're navigating your career. your life and all your future impact. And it's cool to hear that you going to Nickelodeon ended up being one of the biggest pivots that you made and the most successful. It's really fascinating. You talked a little about social media. A lot of your businesses live on social media today. We're going to get into that. When you look back, if you took a P&L, like your income, would you say that you've been able to make more off of building that social media, which came from working with Nickelodeon or in the acting space? It's, yeah, I mean, some years in acting were better than what I'm doing now at some points. But no, I'd say in general, yeah,

I definitely sustained if not grown. It's wild. It's so wild, the power of social media, the dollars, the sense, the impact, the influence. It's just crazy. And so one of the things you've done is you've turned all of your influence and your platform into your passions. You've been very outspoken about the vegan lifestyle that you live and the impact. And then I was reading that you were a vegetarian at the age of five. What like, tell like, you're, you're, you're, your peers are eating McDonald's, happy, happy meals and cheeseburgers. And you're like, nope, I'll bake the salad and the apples. Walk me through that, and then I'm curious how this impacts the businesses you have today.

Sure. I think, like, I'm a very sensitive person. Like, I'd consider myself an empath. And as a kid, I went to a dude ranch with my family and I just saw some, like, horrific things done at a rodeo. And it was enough for me to just know that, like, whatever that's, whatever the cause of this is. I don't want to be a part of it. And I just learned a lot at five. Like, we're at this dude ranch. They served us some steaks that night and, like, talked about how their

cattle are raised and correlating the two is very easy at even five. And I asked questions. And I just, for me, it was just like, I don't want to eat animals. And so I just kind of like kept that going for a while. I don't want, is there animals in this? I don't want to eat animals. Come from an Italian family. Like, it didn't fly for everything.

Oh, man. Oh, the meatball that she'd hide in the sauce. Yeah. And then I realized. later on, which wasn't much later, I was about 10 or 11 years old. My uncle had some health stuff going on. He had cancer. And they had a vegan meal prepared for him. And they had a chef come and teach them how to cook vegan. And he was literally like not, he wasn't doing well at all. And my aunt invited me over and said, I know you're vegetarian. You might want to try this.

And I was like, well, why, why is he eating vegan? They weren't a vegan family by any means. And they just said, a body can't thrive. Like a cancer can't live if there's no animal products. your body like it's a different yeah they just wanted to clean him up make sure that he was getting the right foods and and i then i learned about the health implications of course of being vegan and not having high cholesterol and things of that nature and then of course the environmental impact came shortly after that i read a book called skinny bitch i learned about factory farming and animal agriculture and the real business behind food and i think now where i stand i'll always do it for animals and health and the environment but i'm so intrigued

by the business of our food, that, like, it made me even stronger in my ethics. Yeah, I mean, I think the business side of it also, like, just the marketing components of it, like, the things that are, like, jammed into our brain from a food perspective so that our dollars are, like, aligned in certain ways, which is just wild. So what was the first moment that you took this passion and turned into a business? And I think a lot of people have passions A to Z, but they have to say to themselves, how much money am I going to allocate towards this passion before I rethink or redeploy my money? What was that process like for you?

Yeah, I think my first real moment where I realized I want to put my money where my mouth is, essentially, is when I got a call from chef Dave Anderson, who I worked with at the restaurant. And he had been out of the restaurant game for a while, and he was really well respected, and he still is. But at that time, he had been a part of some of the biggest vegan restaurants, like Real Food Daily. And he opened up his own spot. And there was like Paul McCartney dining in this tiny little home-the-wall restaurant with no signage. Like people knew about him. And then he went on to work for Beyond Meat and like literally created half their most successful recipes today.

So when he called me and he said, hey, I don't know like what your deal is, but do you want to help me open up a restaurant? I said, I'll do whatever I have to do. Like I just at the time had like bought our first home. So like I was nervous about it. And I didn't know what my, you never know with this career. But I believed in him. And I just, to this day, when I invest, I have to know that I believe in the people. And he was, like, the biggest reason why I did it.

But what happened was is he realized, like, even though a restaurant is really where our heart is, to scale a company like that is so much harder. It's tough. Yeah, it's tough. So he went into, like, snack foods. And I thought, how great we can reach the masses, like, to give an option to people who may not have that in other places of the world. Like, how great. So that was the direction.

That gave me a lot of, I guess, confidence and all. also a network, which was really important. Yeah, that's so cool. When you look at that restaurant investment, did you break even with it? Did you end up losing money? No, I'm still in it. You exit from it? No, no, no, it's growing.

No, it's great. And outstanding foods is thriving. It was probably the biggest and potentially one of the most successful that I've been a part of. I mean, one of my cone, I mean, everyone's really invested at this point. Snoop Dogg and Rob Deerdeck and like all these people. So it's like, like I said, the network, the reach and the CEO who, was so close to me. It's like been the greatest experience. That is amazing. Now tell me a little bit about the beauty box subscription and how you got into that. And just as the like the business

challenges and the success behind it. Sure. So kinder beauty was a really cool experience. So Andrew Bernstein and Ivana Lynch, who are my two partners, we used to do stuff at the PETA nonprofit. So we would do a lot of campaigns and things of that nature. And Andrew was kind of heading up the talent department at PETA. And then when he sort of broke away and he wanted to do something that was for-profit, but also still very impactful, he realized that there was kind of a white space. There was all these beauty boxes. There was all these straight-to-your-door boxes, but nothing that really, like, spoke to the vegan community, not even necessarily the vegan community, but nothing that really, like, made clarity around what is actually in your product. So for me, even as a

vegan, I didn't even know where to start. Like, who do you trust? Everyone's trying to claim that their cruelty fee or vegan or clean, but like, where is this, like, you got to get to the real nitty-gritty. decided that we would do a box that really ticked all those boxes. Pun intended. Yeah. And make it actually like an entry level experience. Nothing that was too expensive because, you know, you'd have to, so three, four years ago when I was shopping for beauty products and I wanted to make sure I was getting something that I was proud of, I'd have to go to Whole Foods and spend $50 on something that like may not even be high quality. Right. Right. So like for us to do the legwork and curate something that's $20 something

dollars a month and like comes with a hundred plus dollars worth of value and like making sure that those partnerships made made sense so that we can offer that to our subscribers it's like a really interesting process but really meaningful that is i think it's so amazing how many like subscribers did you guys currently have for at this point yeah oh goodness so it's been hard man i'm not going to lie we've had some so i'll tell you something right like with the recession like what they're saying is that subscriptions are like taking the biggest toll right now. Sure. Yeah, no, for sure. What I will say, though, with the COVID of all things, our company grew like 330 something percent during that time. In a lot of ways, it was an incredible way to speak to a audience that may

have not thought more about their health and what they were putting on their body and like actually what their dollar could be impacting. So we actually donate back to a lot of, like, amazing organizations and animal agriculture and also not, well, that fight off animal agriculture and also environmental things. So it was a really great experience for us to grow. And then retaining, of course, is, you know, another story. But we're doing the best we can. And I think that, like, we're in a good, strong place and steadily growing, which is important. But we've learned a lot along the way. It's been a beautiful process. I'll tell you that much. So as someone that's thinking about going vegetarian or vegan, what is the biggest thing we should

know as a consumer because you see like those documentaries on Netflix like you had said and there's certain products that might be overpriced like what is the biggest thing if someone's like you know what I'm being I'm rethinking this based on what Danielle is saying I might change my habits I think I might go vegan or vegetarian what is the biggest thing you would advise a consumer to think about I would give ourselves more credit our dollar our impact our decisions as a consumer are so important and have so much more weight than you'd imagine. And I just say to do more research only because people are always going to be praying on you and they're always going to be trying to sell you a story or their thing. And to me, like, we have to be advocates for ourselves. And when

that, when it depends what your point of entry is. Like if you really care about your health, let's say you've got several pills you're taking or you're on these different, like, you're on a health journey, then maybe look at that first and go, is there anything I could do about my, my, what I'm putting in my body? And then if you care more about environmental impacts, or if you care more about the actual business of like animal agriculture and what's actually happening, what's going into your food, the stress, the anxiety, the fear, the things that we're consuming that could then, do you have anxiety? Like, could it potentially be from the animal that suffered tremendously? Like there's so many different reasons. So I don't know that I could pick one, but I do

think if one speaks to you, like go down that path and see if there's more that you could be doing because now we have options. Like for the longest time when I turned vegan, wow, there was nothing out there. Yeah. Nothing. Yeah. You know, but it's a little different. You do have to weave through the things that like maybe more manufactured, more processed, more this, more that, but just stick the closest you can to like Whole Foods, Plant-based. There you go. Whole Foods, Plant-Based. In the recap, David and I are going to take a shot at this. So we are not vegetarian or vegan, but What we're going to do is for one week, we're going to give it a shot. And we are going to try it.

We're going to give it a go. You have convinced us. I already got approval from him, so he's on board. And then we're going to recap our week journey of doing it to all of the viewers. Wait, are you going vegetarian or vegan? You tell you. All right, I was trying to get away with a vegetarian. Are you going to challenge us to go vegan?

I will absolutely challenge you to go vegan. You're challenging us to go vegan. And one of the things we'll have to do is we're going to, I know when you make that transition, finding the right foods is tough. So you're an investor and you're on the board of Vegan Sunday Supper. So is that where we should start with this? Oh, we will hook you up. Is this what? Okay. This is what we're going to do. That is going to make you feel like you are right at home, like the most enjoyable. Oh, yes. We got you. This is okay. So if we can do it and you're listening out there, you can give it a shot, we're going to give a full review of that.

So where do you see what's next for you in the vegan space? You've done so much. You have the beauty box. You have the app. You're on the board of Vegan Sunday Supper. You have the restaurant alignment. What is next room space and what's like your vision as you think about it? That's a great question. I want to be in a position to be able to invest in companies that really feel like they align and that I want to like help. I really want to work on this app community because I think what happens is when you become vegan, there's so much confusion. And I don't know. I'm curious to know how your experience goes because, you know, it seems so simple. But there needs to be a bit of handholding. There needs to be a bit of community. Like, in order to have some real

success, you got to have some sort of plan. And so what my app, Danielle's Digest is doing is creating an actual meal plan where like you can literally go on and like, you don't have to think about it. Not only are there recipes, but it's just telling you like, hey, it's going to ask you what your appetite is, what your likes, dislikes, allergies, whatever. And we're going to put together a whole map of like what could have. And you can buy it all on my app, like through a grocery app. We'll have the groceries come to your house. You can prepare. it yourself. There's macros involved. You can know what you're taking in. Make sure if you're protein conscious or whatever it may be, it's all there. And I wished that like many people had this

resource because I think that's where you fall through the cracks. You're like, oh, someone tells you you're not getting enough B vitamins. You're not, oh, you're doing it wrong. Like I just need some help. And I just wanted to be able to help people. And this was the easiest, not necessarily the easiest, but the biggest way that I could. I think that's one of the biggest things to business too is I'm we're inspired by what you're doing so that's why we're going to do it we just don't have instruction I think so many people can inspire but then they don't provide any type of instruction so the fact that you can provide the inspiration with the instruction of exactly where to go and how to do it is huge I think you're going to have a massive massive impact with the app

question for you on the business side of the app a lot of people are sitting that bar having a drink oh I got to come up with this app idea I got this great idea for an app they have no idea where to You obviously had a great idea for an app. Where did you start? Who did you call? What type of mind is it cost to create an app? It's a great question. So fortunately for me, and it goes back to having the network, there was someone that I was close

with from an organization, Mercy Free Animals, who actually had sort of the lay of the land figured out already, and they had done this for people like Beyonce. Wow. That's a nice little hookup to have, not a big deal. So I was lucky enough to be at the right place, at the right time, had the right conversation. And I think she saw my heart and was like, okay, like, let's do this together. And so she helped me acquire the right team and the right people in place. And through the years of being on social media, like, I have my own person.

That's kind of like my right-hand person. And together we've just been like carving it out and figuring out like how to really like organize this so that it's efficient. It works. The logistics are tricky. I will say one thing. We're not on the app store. And that helps. It helps.

Interesting. So we're a web-based app. So essentially we are basically. a website for logistical reasons. Like, it's just, it's easier. You don't have to take too much off the top. Those app stores can cost you upwards of, I don't even know, probably 30%. Tons, yeah.

Yeah, tons. And so I just didn't, it was more for me, like, how do I make this resource available to the masses at the best price possible? I love that. So it's a web-based app. You can download it to your app device or your, sorry, your phone device. And it works just like an app, and it doesn't take up any space. So if anyone's out there trying to create an app, I would try to just go that route.

That is such a good call. So it feels like it's the same sort of deal. Yeah, so if you're looking for an entry point, cheaper to do it, easier to do it that way. So then I wasn't even to ask you where to find the app because I thought it would be implied that it would be there. So where would someone download the app? You go to my website, which is danielasdigest.com.

And it's pretty easy. Just kind of go through the steps, take the little quiz. Okay, we're going to take the quiz. We're going to download it in the recap. Stay tuned, guys. This is going to be fun. I think that's a great way to get an app going. We have a few rapid-fire questions,

and we're going to get your trading secret. So you're ready for a few rapid fire here? Yes, I'm ready. Okay. What is the best vegan food that you've ever had in your entire life? Oh, everything that Dave cooked at Madeline Bistro. It's the best. It's the best.

All right, I love it. What is the worst investment you've ever made? Ooh, I have one. It was myself. I partnered with someone. He fronted the money. And unfortunately, we were at a wrong time. So we wanted, I wanted to come out with diapers that were sustainable because I was having a baby and I just knew that that market is just to me like convoluted, confusing. Are they safe? Are they biodegradable? Are they all the things that I want to put on my child and like consume as a customer? So I wanted to like fix it. So I partnered with someone and the timing was bad. During COVID, every single resource you could imagine was being allocated towards like masks and gloves and all of that nature. Like we were the last person that they'd care for. And then also when you did find your consumer and you got the.

at the right point, you acquired them. Like, we sold out in, like, crazy time. But to, like, get another rehab was, like, astronomical. You couldn't get any more inventory. So it was just to me, like, I put so much heart and soul into that. And the mama heart, like, the fact that I had this baby and I was like, I'm going to fix the diaper industry. And I realized, nah, you're not.

Papers, watch out. Danielle, it's coming through. You're not. Move on. Then I realize, if you just potty train your kid early, that's the most sustainable approach. And so I did that. There's going to be a new app for that here. So then at what point did you cut the business out?

When did you say? It just kind of, it was early. It was like probably less than a year. And we realized like, actually, I'll be honest. I had friends subscribing and they were like, I'm not getting my diapers. And I said, let me look into this. And then. There's an inventory issue.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How much money did you lose on that? I invested myself. So my partner put up the money. Oh, so you're good. That's right.

You said that. But a good learning lesson. All right. Million bucks. If I put a million bucks right now in cash, you can do anything with it. What are you doing with it? Oh my gosh. Oh, there's some restaurants of all things, okay? Okay. After the success of Sugar Taco, I actually think differently about restaurant investments. I think they have to be run by the right people. But I believe in my partner, Jade, Nicole, who started Sugar Taco, and I would give her a little bit to just like do something with me exclusively, to also do whatever she's passionate about. Yeah, and maybe even franchise at that point, I think there's probably, I would actually, I would probably do at least 500K towards that.

And then the rest just pocket it for like those little moments and someone's like, hey, could you, can you? There's a vegan supper Sunday. That to me was like, I need to be liquid enough to invest in you. Like, I don't know. I would probably just save some. That's a great breakdown. All right, if you do one more TV show, what is one person that you would want make sure is in the cast?

Oh my gosh. That's such a great question. I feel like it would be fun to do something with Jennifer Aniston. Oh, my, that dream come true. Oh, my gosh. One time I got to walk in her presence, and I was like, oh, my God, I couldn't even talk. Caitlin was like, pick up your jaw. I'm right next to you.

I love it. And what other business ventures can we expect from you? Oh, man, good question. I think TV will likely be next. Yeah, you know, I have two kids, and I feel like I'm at a point where not to be too at TMI, but, like, I'm finally, like, weaning off the nursing. Like, I feel like I can slowly pull away a bit more. And, yeah, I just want to give myself, I want to give everything I do 100%.

And so I wasn't ready. And now I'm feeling a little bit more ready. So probably another show at some point. Amazing. Your success story is unbelievable. Your resume is so wildly impressive. And the fact that you were able to do it your way, the way you saw fit from such a young age until now is an inspiration for so many. We're going to give the whole vegan shot.

We're going to give the vegan diet a shot. Stay tuned to the recap. We'll talk through it. David is going to be shaking in his boots, but we're doing it. We have the app. If people want more of you, Danielle, where can they find everything you have going on? The Vigia businesses, everything that you're doing, where can they go to find it? I would say probably just start on Instagram.

Follow me at Danila Monet, and I kind of just always am posting everything I'm involved in. I love it. And then we have to end with the trading secret. So it's one trading secret from you. Okay, I have one. Can't learn a textbook. Can't Google it. You already ready to go?

I have one. Sometimes I elongate that process so people can think through it. You're ready to go. What is your trading secret? So when I was younger, I didn't have much money at this point, okay? I was still young in my career, but I wanted to be involved in stock. So I, and I couldn't buy certain things. Like, I thought Whole Foods was the coolest market in town.

I didn't have the money to go shop there. And, like, I thought BMWs were the coolest car. So I, like, somehow figured out how to invest in these companies, like Tesla. I invested in, like, BMW, buy a comp because I wanted to be on Nickelodeon. Whole Foods. I only invested in things that I thought were awesome, and I wanted to, like, be involved. And I think, like, that has rung true till this day. I've now invested in more green companies, and it wasn't much. Like, I remember talking to this advisor at the time, and I said, could I buy, like, $500 from BMW? Like, could I have $500 worth of BMW? And then, of course,

iPhone was big. I was like, can I have, like, $400 of Apple? And it was just a nice way for me to feel like I was a part of something that I was actually wanting to be a consumer of. And that's like really, yeah. That's such a good lesson. And you know who does that best? Warren Buffett. Oh, amazing. Warren Buffett has a similar, no, but he is a similar show.

No, I don't think he invests in things like that you might condone. Like he's a big McDonald's guy. So definitely not up your alley. But it's such a good perspective. I think there's so many people that are confused about investing. And then they go to look into investing in people, completely confuse them with all the analytics and the technical. If you like a product and it's a good company, go put a couple bucks behind it, and you never know it will go.

That is a great trading secret. Well, thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. This was a great episode. Your resume is unbelievable, and we can't wait to see what you do next. Thank you, Jason. This is awesome. We are back with Trading Secrets from the viewer segment. And today we have Shauna with us.

Shauna is in the copywriter business. But before she went on her own, she was made. managing copywriters. So, Shawna, tell me, first of all, for someone who doesn't know and they hear a copywriter, what exactly is that profession? What does it mean? Yeah, so I help businesses boost their profits

through the power of storytelling, building brand awareness, and really like increasing their conversions. So content is really about getting found as a business and copywriting is sort of selling your products and services more effectively. So every business needs a good copywriter. Okay. so let's talk through that. Someone out there has a little side hustle business or someone

listening to this and they have a massive, massive business. Give me an example of one project a copywriter would work on. Website copy. So kind of going through somebody's website and looking at how they're positioning their products and services. So every business, you know, wants to stand out in the marketplace. So how are they communicating that to their potential clients and customers? So copywriter is really going to go. through all of those words with a fine-tooth comb and say, like, we can position this better here or let's do this over here. So it's really about just telling somebody why they should choose your business over another one. Okay, I love it. So it's the, it's the communication just based on

like the visibility, the actual written communication, potentially verbal communication, the aesthetic, et cetera. If someone's interested in this space as a copywriter, what type of either educational background or credibility do you have to have on your resume to become a copywriter? That's a good question. I have a couple of college degrees and I have always been in marketing writing. So my career has kind of taken a lot of different, you know, ventures here and there. I would say that there's a lot of people now who can learn how to do copywriting and not have to do a four year degree. There's a lot of different programs that you can kind of sign up for. Maybe it's, you know, three to four thousand dollars to do a program that's eight weeks and you're working with somebody online. You can certainly. go the route that I did and do for your degree. I think that it helped me in the sense that I learned so much about myself and I learned a lot of skills along the way that have positioned me well now. But there's certainly a lot of different avenues that one could go down if they want to learn that skill. Okay, very cool. And then when you got to the position of managing

copywriters, how many copywriters were you managing? And where was the business coming from? Like, who was hiring you guys that you were deploying the work to the people you were managing? What'd that look like? Yeah. So my team, I had anywhere from, I think, four to seven copywriters on my team. We worked for a higher education tech company. So our clients were colleges and universities, and we were, you know, building the marketing that they could then take to get more student prospects.

So we were building landing pages and doing email. sequences and doing website copy, all to, again, position that university for attracting students to want to apply there. It's so I just love these segments because it helps us kind of just peel back the pages and layers to businesses. You think about a university and education, no one's thinking business, and here you are being hired by them, right, to create marketing, to sell more student prospects, right? Like, it's everything has some tie to business no matter what industry you're in.

And to even think about education as a way of marketing students, that's how they run. That's how the cash comes in the door. When you were managing these four to six copywriters, what on average were those individuals making? I would say they were making probably 60 to 65,000, maybe 50 if they were really new. 50 to 65,000 is probably what they were making. There wasn't a huge gap between what they were making and what I was making, which was definitely my inspiration to build my own business. Amazing.

Okay, so, Shauna, you've built your own business. We're going to get to that in a minute. A copywriter starts off or they're making around the 50, 60K mark. What was like a day in the life for those copywriters? What did the job look like if someone is maybe considering like I could do this on the side or I can make a run at this. What does the day-to-day look like? Yeah, I would say it's always different. You're doing everything from research, like researching the university in this, in this case, they're researching the university, seeing what their brand positioning is,

how do they talk about the university in the marketplace, what are their like benefits to going there? What is that going to do for the student? They're sitting down and doing, you know, like framework of what the website might look like, like where's the headline going to like, what is that going to look like? And then just sitting down and writing is a lot of that job, you know, like talking with your coworkers and sort of saying like, hey, what do you think about this? It's going back and it's fine-tuning a lot. But I would say inherently with copywriting, there's a ton of research that goes into it

before you ever write a single word on the page because you really have to know all of that upfront information first before you can effectively position this. this university or this business well for them to attract the customers or the prospects that they want. So there's a lot of research that goes into it. Interesting. So a lot of due diligence is done on the back end before any words ever hit the paper. Let's talk about this. You left. You said you started your own business. What made you leave? The fact that I was hiring people with maybe four years out of college making maybe 5 to 10,000 less than I was. And I was, I had 20 years of experience doing all of this kind of writing. And so that for one was one of the reasons where I thought,

okay, well, I'm only going to make incremental increases if I'm lucky by staying with this company. On the flip side, I also knew of people that were going out and building copywriting businesses, is, again, that didn't have as much, like, experiences I have, not to say that they aren't good at what they do, but I think there's a depth and a maturity that comes with writing and doing a lot of it over the years. And they were making more money than me. And I thought, man, if this person can do it, I can do it. And there's really no ceiling for me. As a business owner, I can go and make, you know, far and away above what I was making at my full-time job. And I wanted the freedom to, but certainly the the ability to kind of carve my own future was right up there. I love it. Take it into your own

hands, write your own story. How long ago did you make the transition to your own business? About six months. Six months. And how has it been going? I'm clearing 13,000 a month. So I've doubled my income in less than six months. Unbelievable. Do you have anybody working with you now? Are you still running it all on yourself? Mostly on my own, but I have one writer that I'm starting to delegate some things to now. Okay, one piece of advice for someone that's thinking about taking the leap of faith, but hasn't done it yet, you've done it. It's a risky move. It's paid off for you. What bit of advice would you give them? I would say just to bet on yourself. I mean, over the years, I took a lot of chances to work on projects. I didn't know how it was

going to work out. Sometimes it didn't work out, but it positioned me to learn a new skill that went into my toolbox. It opened me up to an entirely new network. And I believe that right now in my business, I haven't done any marketing yet. All of it has come from referrals. So that's a testament to not only my work ethic and just doing a really damn good job, but also I have this huge network of people that know them doing this. So I think anytime that you can bet on yourself, it's always going to pay out. It might not be obvious right away. But that has for sure been the reason that I'm so successful now. I love that. That is such a good piece of advice.

Bet on yourself, take a shot. Now, I mean, I got to give you the opportunity. You came on here. You shared what copyrighters can make. You shared what you're making now. You shared your success story in a trading secret. If anybody's out there, you've got to take this opportunity to plug your business. So if someone wants to work with a copywriter or has questions for you about the industry,

where can they find your business and where can they find you? Yeah. So the website is ampersand, A-M-P-E-R-S-A-N-D, copy-and-content.com. So the business is ampersand, copy, and content. On LinkedIn and Instagram, it's Shauna R-S-I-R-Siver. So it's S-H-A-W-N-N-A-R-Styver. Awesome. Seana-Stiver, congratulations on your awesome career track and into entrepreneurship.

And thank you for trading secrets with our viewers today. Yes. Ding, ding! We're closing in the bell to the Daniela Monet podcast. What a beauty. Got to meet her fiance in the background. Justin Crawford set it up. Her story is unbelievable.

What a star. And just she's got that star power, David. When she walks in the room, there's certain people that have that star glow, that star power. Daniela Monet has it. So tell me, what did you think? I mean, I had no clue who she was. Maybe that's because I didn't have Nickelodeon growing up. I'm a YTV guy in Canada.

Dude, and you know, I'm shocked. You didn't know who she, you know who everybody is. I know who everybody is. She's huge. She's huge. Now, did you know who she was from, like, when you were younger? Or do you know who she is because now? I know who she is because of now.

Oh, okay. That's right. Usually I'm to go to guy. We weren't, her Nickelodeon genre time, her main presence on Nickelodeon was not when you and I were watching Nickelodeon. Unlike this past week. weekend at iHeart radio i was fan freaking out because of cori and eric from boy meets world i made losing my shit he was so cool by the way i waited until he was by himself and i said listen

i'm a huge fan kind of freaking out i wanted to make sure you had just like a minute before i like came over to you and it seems like you do i just get one picture he was so cool man he was great she was she was you could tell how like big time she was because the big time people drop like a couple nuggets and then don't feel the need to go into it. Like, oh, yeah, a side hustle. I was slinging high-end jewelry. Jessica Simpson, Kardashians. Oh, yeah, I worked at the dash store. Just like, little side hustles, like sprinkling in there. The dash store. You know, like, it's so funny because when she was sprinkling those in, I was, it took me a minute to pick up on it. Like, she would say, oh, you know, I worked at the dash store, you know, and I would just

be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like, it'd be like two minutes later, but like, oh, fuck, that's what she was talking about. Yeah, I'm connected with the dots here, but I had to go to my next note and my next question here. So, but before we get into anything, I got a bone to pick with you, Jay. Oh, boy, here we go. You signed us up for another week of vegan. I know, dude, you know, it's so funny is when I committed to that again, I was like delayed two minutes and everything this episode. I was like, shit, we already did this. And David was not a fan. But also, David, you've been telling me, you've been packing on a few pounds because you've been on the road. You need it. So maybe

it's the cleanse you don't really want, but you need. I, you said, oh, yeah, I already got it approved by him. I instantly texted you. I'm like, when did you do this interview? Was it last year? Like, but are you in? Oh, I'm in because I'm looking at myself. My tan is gone and it's not even, it's October now.

And that's just usually it lasts like December, January. I'm, yeah, I got the, I got the, you know, I got the post game pizza and, and road trip look going on on my face right now. So I need it. So next Wednesday, we recap. So we, you got tonight, go binge. Get some Mickey D's. Throw into Buzon wings.

Tomorrow we start vegan for a week. So she said vegan Sunday supper is going to hook us up. So vegan Sunday supper, I looked it up, one of her companies, which seems like she has a million companies, either that she founded or she invests in. They have frozen lasagna's normal and like a Italian sausage, obviously vegan. Can we get some of those to kind of kickstart this a little bit here? Yeah, that would be actually nice. Maybe I'll reach out, but also what we,

we could do is put it on the trading secrets, P&L. And we can just, we'll support her business. We'll buy it. We'll grab it. Yeah. So she, I was going to like fight you virtually for making me do this. Seeing her reaction when you said, you know what, David and I were going to do it. She's so excited. So I think we have to do this for us.

First and foremost, we have to do it for her for supporting her. So I'm going to do it begrudgeonly, but I'm in. We also need to do it for our health. And I want to bring something up here, taking a little detour from the business, because this is the business that reflects our health. David, tell me, like, do you ever, do you regularly get your cholesterol taken? Absolutely. Not. Never in my life. Do you have any idea where your cholesterol stands? I couldn't even tell you what the range is. Like, I could, like, 160 metrics of what? I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So last time I took my cholesterol, it was good. I think, like, one of the things you

really want to shoot for is under 200, well, under 200, so I'm good. But that was two years ago. I haven't had my cholesterol taken in two years. And this is a longer story, but I'm going to make as short as I Ken, my good buddy's dad is in his 70s and he is in good shape and he is healthy and there was no red flag whatsoever that he had any issues. He just woke up in the middle of the night and in the middle of the night he felt chest pain. And so his wife said, does it feel like you have an elephant sitting on your chest? And he said, maybe not an elephant, but it feels like something. And she said, all right, this was three in the morning. Think about how easy it would have been to say, go to bed. She said, all right, we're going to the hospital. Goes to the hospital, finds a

out that he has 90% blockage in his heart. And the doctor said, if he fell asleep and went back to bed, he wouldn't be with us today. Because of that, he has told me the lesson, go have your parents and you yourself, go get a heart scan. It's nothing, it's simple, it's easy, they'll do it, it's affordable. I told my parents to do it. They told me they were going to do it. My mom comes back perfect, no issue. My dad, and my dad is like 64 and has a six-pack. works out every day, would never know. He's in the like 90th percentile for a really, really challenging position like with his heart, cholesterol, and calcium. And so when you talk to the doctors, he has to either get stints or he's got to get on cholesterol medication. We never

would have known that. And this comes back to the vegan diet because apparently I learned that my brother's cholesterol is a little higher until he went vegan. And now his cholesterol is perfect. And I know we talk about business here, but business is powered by energy and health, and anyone out there, go tell your parents to get a heart scan. You just never know. Go yourself, get a heart scan. Go get your cholesterol taken. There could be simple things like incorporating a vegan diet that can actually save your life.

Amen. I mean, that was a PSA for the record books right there. And you know what's so funny about that, intermittent fasting, tons of health benefits, the keto diet, tons of health benefits. It's everything that you do usually has like a subset of like, oh, but this is unhealthy and it kind of deters people like intermittent fasting, not healthy because you're not eating breakfast in the morning, right? You're quote unquote starving yourself.

Keto, like, yeah, you're eating all fats. Your cholesterol is really high. Vegan, like I don't get enough protein. You know, I'm not going to get, you know, strength and energy that I need. So I think just being conscious of what you're doing and owning it is really important. And like you said, making sure that you're getting the back steps done to make sure that it's been doing for the right things in the right way. Exactly. And I think something that's also interesting is going into this episode, David,

recapping it, getting fired up about Danielle's unbelievable insight. I started doing some research on the whole idea of like vegans. And what's interesting is that over a third right now of UK customers, 35% are in the process of decreasing their meat intake, not because of what we just talked about, which was health, because of money. So money podcast. Right now, meat and chicken and eggs, well, eggs obviously don't correlate to that, but those, the price point of those three areas have increased drastically. And if you, they're saying if you can go to a vegan diet, you can decrease, because we talk money here, your food costs by 34%.

Because the price point of meat and chicken and seafood, too, has gone bananas in the last year up over 20, 30% you over year. everything you just said combined with the cholesterol talk i'm legitimately staring on my island here left over pizza and wings from the night before that i spent 74 dollars on a large pizza and 20 wings what 75 bucks for a pizza and wings disgusting and now my cholesterol i feel it my i just had this conversation i'm just feeling the cholesterol just creeping up on me so but i will say i had a couple notes in here i said is there a bigger conspiracy in what we live in, then the business in our food, like something that we're actually shielded

from, from how it actually works, than the business of food. I don't know if there is. Two things that she said that I have to get your take on before we kind of switch to, maybe switch, maybe not. You make the call. When she said, if you have anxiety, have you ever thought if that's created from the anxiety that the animal that you're eating and was going through at the time that it was slaughtered? I was like, oh, I know, dude, that freaks you. It like totally messes, you totally mess with you. And I need to know if this is true. She said, cancer can't live in your body if there's no animal products in it. Cancer can't live if there's no animal products in your body, is the direct quote. And I just need to know if that's true. And I mean,

listen, I got some depth in finance and business. I'm not a fucking doctor. But I have done a lot of like research around this. And there are things like, I mean, they say like decreasing your sugar intake and decreasing your meat ingestion while you are undergoing cancer treatment is really important. And so, I mean, I don't know what the answer is. It's interesting you're bringing this up, though, because next week, guys, we have an unbelievable episode. It is so empowering with Francis Tesmer, who she is aligned with Ralph Global. She's a CEO, and then she's positioned with L'Oreal to make a massive splash in the beauty industry. But she does unbelievable stuff.

Like she meets with kings and queens and oil tycoon. She's lived in over 22 countries. She comes from a family of massive, massive wealth. And I was just asking her, like, how do you do what you do at the speed you do it? She only sleeps three, four hours a night, three, four hours a night. We're going to get into that next week. But I think a takeaway from her episode, which comes up next week. And this is that we are machines.

We are bodies. each of our bodies is its own machine. And what's the inputs and outputs in different science and makeup, it's the most confusing machine in the world. And only you can identify with yourself what will and won't work. But how do we know if a vegan diet isn't going to bring us to the next level in all areas if you haven't tried that input to your machine? Yeah, I mean, such a good point.

I can't wait for that episode. Daniela was one of those people like I want to, like of all the guests we had when I was thinking and seeing how passionate it was and kind of the look that she gave us in terms of the business behind food and that's what's kind of making these changes like give us in a room give us some drinks like I want to dig into her and find a little bit more about like her thoughts on the industry and education I thought it was phenomenal so really really incredible what's your take on her the insight she offered that I want the curious Canadian voice of the viewer just your thoughts on her career track the the moves from Nickelodeon to acting

to some of the management things, like, how are you digesting that conversation? Were you wildly impressed, taken aback? What were things you were thinking? Yeah, first off, love Daniela, would love some more numbers. So, and it was funny because she always talked about how, you know, open she wasn't and how transparent. She wanted to be at a young age of how much money she was making things. I thought it was incredible, like just finding her path, identifying at an early age that school wasn't for her, like needing to get out and act and perform and, you know, sketching going to Korea town to get her GED at 16 so she could get the movie role. I thought it was really, really interesting.

My take always goes to, like, you know, hopefully we're future parents one day. Like, would you ever put your kid in the, in the like child model commercials, like, TV game at a young age? Would you, would you, like, kind of expose them to that? I mean, man, I don't know. If that's like their passion and that's the direction they want to go and, you know, there's a line for them to do it, it's tough to tell them no. It's tough to say, don't do that. And you look at, like, her film debut, I believe it was in the 90s.

Like, you know, it's just wild to do that. The only thing I'll tell you is just from this media and entertainment world, it's, it's tough, man. It is really tough. It's challenging. It's a grind. If you're a day out, you feel like you're 10 days behind. It's just not easy. So I think the big thing is making sure that you're managing your mental health with getting into this world early because it could, it's a,

tough one man it's a really really tough one yeah it was so interesting to hear her say because i don't think any of our guests have ever said this saying uh i was peaking in my career and she was in sixth grade right his middle school right she goes yeah i was kind of peeking in my career the sixth grade and she's like you know it was middle school and i'm missing out and like putting myself and if it was her parent shoes like this girl who's going in sixth grade is having this crazy mental health issues of just not being able to fit in and take a different path obviously so But it's just a really interesting, you know, industry. Or like low Bosworth, making, you know, 25 to 100 can an episode.

It is a junior in college, like all these things. You know, it's just, it's just really, it's fascinating stuff. Josh Peck when he came on saying, you know, he was a huge childhood in Nickelodeon. He talked about the dollars and cents. It's wild to think about it. And I go to a therapist who works with a lot of people in entertainment. And the therapist has pretty much told me, you know, she works with a lot of industry. and she's like the people in the entertainment media in any forum that's how they make money

have the biggest challenges and she's like there is only one person I work with that's really has it completely figured out and their challenges like no other and I think what's interesting is like just look at like Britney Spears it's just so sad what has occurred from just mental languish and everything she's gone through. Psychological warfare. And she and Danielle talked a little bit about like she's self-represented now because she feels like she's been taken advantage of and screwed over in the past and having people speak for her at a young age because she didn't have the interests,

the interest in the line. One question I have for you is she said when she started doing victorious, she had no time left for her side hustles. And because Nickelodeon was starting to pull her in different things for like, you know, doing an interview here, going to a concert here. Do you think at 19 years old when her agent is telling her, to do this and her network's telling her to do this, that she's getting paid for all that stuff? Or do you think this is like prime example of like she's under our umbrella, let's kind

of take advantage of like her exposure and her and her fame for our power? I think it's a little bit of both. I think what she talked about like she wanted to go one way, like you said, and her agency was asking her and wanting her to go another. I think they're looking at more dollars and quick career advancement than they are at like happiness and, you know, best fit, etc. And that's why in all scenarios, you really got to take care of yourself. And back to the point about next week, you got to take care of your machine because other people will lead you in the direction. They want to lead that's best for them as opposed to what's best for you. And so I think she made the right choice. I started to cut you off there. I got two quick questions before

you cut me off whenever you want, because I know we got to get going. We do. How much do you think she was making when her career was peaking in the sixth grade working for Nickelodeon? tough ballpark to throw out there at you but tough ballpark i will say i'm going to make a guess that in her acting career daniel if you're listening don't be offended by this guest because it is extremely uneducated would a love if you told us but it's okay i respect it um i'm going to say she made in a gross around the two two and a half million dollar mark from all acting gigs in her career that's my guess i was going to say two and a half million too swear to of God going off a little bit. Yeah, like Josh Peck kind of alluded to a little bit of this

life in Drake and Josh. So yeah, that's what I, that's all the information we have based on former Nickelodeon stars and actors and actresses telling us, you know, what the what you can make good money, but it's not, it's not going to be life changing forever money. Um, I think that's my guess. All right. Last question. Someone comes up to you and says, hey, you have to change career paths tomorrow. You're a TV actor or a film actor. Which are you choosing? So the answer. Without a doubt, for me, it's going to be, I'm going TV. I'm going TV because I think if you can get like a modern family type thing where you get seven seasons and the value keeps going up or friends, you are golden. David, I also got to throw this in and I want to send it back to you. I have had many, many of our guests, many of our guests. I'm not going to call them out. Listen to the recap. They hear you and I guess their numbers. So you guys go back to the episodes, look at the recaps and have said, damn, you were right. So I haven't had anyone yet tell me I was way off yet. So we'll see.

We will see. Anything else before we wrap up? No, that's great to know. It means that we're doing something right here. Yes. Guys, thank you so much for listening to another episode of Sharing Secrets. Hang tight.

Make sure you're following us on Instagram and make sure you give us five stars in the reviews. We are collecting people's ideas for what our listeners names could be. We have Sav Lott who just said that, you know, we should be secret traders or curious traders. I've heard there's some more, oh, there's some more in the reviews. There's some people that said that we should be the brokers. I mean, there's a long list of different viewers out there that are giving us five-star reviews and then giving us feedback as to what we should call our community. So you tell us in the comments what you think our community should be called.

We are here for it and we are going to make sure that we take care of. of someone if they give us the name that we call our community. Anything you got, David, before I call it? Nope, that's it. Vegan, here we come, yippee. Vegan, here we come one week, and we're going to commit to getting our cholesterol taking it, and we're going to share it.

We'll do all things on this podcast. Thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets. One, you can't afford to miss. Making that money, money, money, bring on me. Making that money and money, living that dream. Making that money, money, pay on me. Making that money, living that dream. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.