Trading Secrets - 82: Bravo legend Caroline Manzo: From reality television to new ventures, Real Housewives fan favorite on why she left reality TV, taking the fear out of cooking, and knowing your value

Episode Date: December 12, 2022

This week, Jason is joined by Bravo legend and on the OG cast members of Real Housewives of New Jersey, Caroline Manzo!    Caroline appeared in the inaugural season of the hit Bravo series and instantly became a fan favorite for her loving, bluntly honest personality. After five seasons on the show, she decided to step away and start a spinoff series called Manzo’d with Children which ran for four seasons, ending in 2017. Now five years removed from reality television, Caroline has been able to focus her career toward other interests.    Caroline provides insight on how she negotiated for herself when it came to her TV contract, the differences between being on Real Housewives and Manzo’d with Children, the importance of being yourself, and how her new YouTube cooking show, Food, Love and Chaos with Caroline Manzo is around teaching people not be afraid of cooking. Caroline also reveals how she feels about being called a fan favorite, how she was discovered and cast for Real Housewives of New Jersey with the help of her sister, the differences between her two books, and what her experiences at Bravo Con have been like. What is her best advice for negotiating? What were the biggest differences between being on Real Housewives of New Jersey and Manzo’d with Children? How has she monetized on social media after being on the show? Where are the best places to eat in New Jersey?    Caroline reveals all that 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.   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.   Sponsor: Download the Dave app from the App Store today or go to Dave.com/secrets - sign up for an Extra Cash account and get $500 instantly     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 Secrets. Today I am joined by Bravo Legend in one of the OG cast members of Real Housewives, New Jersey, Caroline Manzo. Caroline appeared in the inaugural season of the hit Bravo series and instantly became a fan favorite of her loving, bluntly honest personality. After five seasons on the show, she decided to step away and start a spinoff series called the De Manzoed with Children, which lasted four seasons wrapping up in 2017. Now five years removed from reality television, Caroline has focused her

career towards other interests. After writing her first book in 2013, she is now writing a second one, which is scheduled to come out in 2024. We will talk about that. She's taking on the big role of a grandmother in recent years as well. Today, we're going to dive into all things reality television, her experiences on and off the show, and how she was able to leverage her platform in various revenue streams for her and her family.

Caroline, thank you so much for being on Trading Secrets. Thank you so much. I love when someone adorable and smart asked me on, so it's all good. Oh, that's so nice, you know. Thank you for pumping my tires. I was pumping Caroline's tires earlier because my mom, I told her that I was having you on. She is a huge fan of yours and she's very, very envious.

So I'm excited to have you. And then when I talked to one of our producers, said, tell me more about Caroline. She says, here's what we need to start with. She is the fan favorite of all real housewives. I mean, when you hear stuff like that, what does it mean to you? It blows my mind because I never really,

I never really understood it. Because truth be told, we were just, you know, the housewife French, right? franchise as a whole we were just a bunch of women that got lucky you know there are some amongst us with true god-given talent that could sing that could dance that could act sure but for the most and i'm throwing myself in that category so don't come at me ladies there's no talent there we just got lucky it was more of attitude that we had so and bravo just turned this whatever secret source they had they made it an absolute phenomenon so when i say when they say i'm a fan favorite

I want from why. What's the why? There's a million people that I know like me. Yeah. So is it just because I'm in front of your face and on your TV screens? I'm not quite sure, but I certainly appreciate it, you know, after all these years especially. Yeah, I feel like it's, I mean, I certainly can't answer for everyone. It seems like the authenticity, the relatability, just the genuine and realness.

That would be my answer, fast. But pretty cool. It's a good segue to go back to 2009 when you first heard of the show. Real Housewives of New Jersey. how did they cast you like how did they discover caroline i was a mistake okay i was a mistake it's a good mistake they went to our salon in our town and at that time i think only oc and maybe new york was on and they said do you know any women that you know affluent women over the top kind of thing and the salon mentioned everybody but me and my sister-in-law jacklin was getting her her

tape done, whatever you sizzle reel, whatever you want to call it. And she lived right down the street for me. And she said, you know, you really should go see my sister-in-law, Caroline. Why? Well, because she's this, that, the other thing. And she called me up and goes, listen, I'm sending people over to your house right now.

And I'm like, Jacqueline, what? I didn't even hang up the phone. They were there. So they said, well, this is what we're doing. Blah, blah, blah. And I said, no, it's not me. And they said, well, can we just give you a try? we heard so much about you from your sister. I'm like, that's not me. It's really not my thing.

And I remember saying very clearly, I pointed to my chest. I said, these are real and I love my husband, so I don't know why I would go on this show. And they heard that and they're like, you're perfect. She's done. So then, again, they wanted to cast me. And I said, I just don't get it. And then they told me, you're the balance that we need. So that's how it happened.

Purely by mistake. And my sister-in-law, Jacqueline, suggesting that they come to me. Yeah. Well, someone that's apprehensive, right? of just being like, why are you guys even interested? Did you ever reconsider declining the opportunity when even offered it? No. Okay. Because I've always been a risk taker. I've always been the one to grab the breast ring and I've always told my children that when things come to you, don't be afraid to take them because you never know where they will lead. Interesting. I think that's

such great advice, especially in a world where I feel like a lot of people feel like they're constantly walking on eggshells because you're so worried about what everyone else thinks. and the opinion of social media and all this other stuff. And you think about how many people miss the opportunity because of that. Yes. Fear and, oh, gee, what are they going to think about me? You'll survive. You'll live.

Okay. Do it. So let's talk business a little bit. You get the opportunity to go on the show. You take the risk. How do you know what your value should be and how do you negotiate for yourself when you're going into a TV contract for the first time? Because I know my value.

It's that simple. There were some of the ladies that were willing to do it for nothing. And I said, I'm not working. willing to do. My time is valuable. At the time, I owned a real estate company. I don't know if anybody knows that, but I was a realtor for many years. I got my broker's license and I own my own company. And I said, my time is valuable. We're not getting paid for our clothing. We're not getting paid for our hair and makeup. And now you remember, this was only a four week season, maybe six. Maybe they were four or six episodes. I don't remember. So the

filming process was really, really short. But at the same time, my time is value to it. And they We're like, well, gee, we're going to be on TV. And I'm like, great, but what's that going to do for us? Sure. That's great for them. What's it going to do for us? What does that mean for me? Would you go work in McDonald's for nothing because you love hamburgers?

No, you wouldn't. That's a great comparison. Right? You wouldn't. So why would you do this? You know, of course, the thought of it is exciting and fun and, okay, gee, I'm going to be on TV. But what if we don't look good? What if it comes off badly?

Where's the up for me? So the risk is in, the risk versus reward. Where is it? Yeah. So I just kept negotiating and negotiating. I found out later in talking to other housewives, by sticking to our guns a little bit, we got a little more than most at the first season.

Because I was just like, you girls could do it for nothing. I'm not. I was going to say, I hear a lot of like we and you leading the charge. Did you got, like, were you in charge of kind of getting the group together to be like, why would we do this for free? When it came to the numbers, yes. because they were all excited, and now I'm like, not doing it. Yeah.

Not doing it. Gotcha. So there's a group effort to negotiate Real Housewives in New Jersey, and now I'm going to take from that, you kind of led the charge. Let's take away something else. Maybe someone at home can take away from this, negotiating in general. There's a real estate agent and your vast business background and then this. What is, like, the number one tip you would give someone who is terrified in negotiating or has no idea where to start?

First, if someone is coming to you for your service, your talent, whatever it is, I never give them a number. I like that. Never. Never. Never. Because now I know what, by them telling me what they're willing to pay me, I know where they place my value. Gotcha.

So I never ever say, well gee, yeah, this is what I want. Never. I like that. And then there is a number in my mind that if I get that number, I'm happy. Okay. So if you say, well, Carolyn, there's a dress there hanging on the rack, and it's $50. If I'm willing to pay $50 for that dress, I'm happy. Got it.

I won't try to get it on sale. I'm happy. That's the number I'm willing to pay. And that's how I was when I sold my houses. And I sold multi-million dollar homes. What's your number? Stop playing games. This is a market that this is a house that everybody wants, whatever at the time.

I'm not here to play games. You give me your best and final now. And I'm going to walk in there with your best and final. There's no negotiating. That works 98% of the time. Guys, that is a brilliant tip right there. Don't say the number first. Have an idea of what you want.

No games. Get to the point. Let's get the deal done. Now, through season of season of Real Housewives in New Jersey, you're becoming the fan favorite. You're seeing your social media is growing. It's grown. It's huge now.

How do you reestablish what this new value should be? Because that's one thing coming from reality television. You go on one show, and then you go on the next show. And you start to build momentum. Now you have fans, your followers. You didn't have fans, followers before. So then how do you work to understand what your value is, second, third season, fourth season, fifth season? I am a very fair person.

I'm a very fair-minded person. So the numbers I got on Housewives, I didn't get on Manzoed, okay? But I understood the opportunity with Manzoed. Manzo is my own show, Housewives on part of an ensemble, a woman. So we all have to eat. We all have to do our best, and we all have to give our best to make the show grow. Manzo was different. They were giving me a new opportunity.

I am never that person to say, look at me, look who I am. Yeah. Only when, for instance, when I've been asked many times to go back on How's Wives, there I know my value. Gosh. I know what this face will do at an up front. what the ads will do, where the show will go if this face is back on.

Okay? I understand that. I get fired up listening to you. I want to run through a wall right now. But that's the thing. It's like, I know my value, and I am not going back until I get my number. I don't have to go back.

I left for a reason, okay? For me to go back has to make sense for me financially. It would have to be something that would be irresponsible for me to turn down. So the number,

one reason you're not going back is because you don't think the offer is equitable for the value you bring to the show. Right. And of course, it takes an emotional toll on you. Of course. And I'm at a point in my life that I have to, if I have to have fun. Yeah, yeah. And if I'm not having fun, it has to make sense. The bottom line, it has to make sense in so many different facets. Am I having fun? Is it stressing me out? What does it mean to my home life situation? What am I going to get out of it? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. All the boxes have to be ticked at my age. I'm 61 years old. Yeah. I don't play anymore. As I'm listening to this, though, I know you're putting the age to it. I think that's a less than any age.

And I think, like, anybody can apply that to it. Know your value. Check those boxes and know your value. And think about it more than just even the dollars and cents. Look at the full global perspective of what it's doing for you. When you say you have a number, are they getting even close? Because, I mean, everyone I talked to is like, put her back on the show. We need her back.

Are they getting close to this number? Or is it something they're like, no, we're not even going to. meet you halfway? You know, it's been such, are they getting close? I can't answer that fairly. It would be, it wouldn't be fair to them if I answered it because the scenarios are different. Okay.

So I had no interest ever in going back full time. Got it. So the numbers I had gotten were for one hour of your time, two hours of your time. Got it. Like that. Okay. So it would be unfair to me to say,

well, they haven't met my number because I didn't want to go back full time. Yeah. Understood. But I would say that, no, they have not met my number. Okay, so there you heard it. Yeah, but then when we had an opportunity to bring back Manzoad, it was far less. But I said to myself, you know what? I loved doing Manzo.

Yeah. It's fun. It's exciting. Now I have my granddaughter and how fun would be to have her, you know, share her to a small extent, not too big out there. So I wasn't as hard in negotiating that because, you know, yes, there's a value to it, but not as much as my place on housewives. Right. Understood. When you left in the fifth season, was that due to the fact that you had Manzoed lined up?

Was that the reason for me doing season five? Got it. Okay. Yeah. I did not want to stay really past season two. Interesting. And they were like, you're not going anywhere. And I'm like, please let me go. And they're like, I'm going anywhere. And, you know, I respect the contract. And I stood with it. And then season four, I just had had it, and I went to them and I said, guys, we built something really special here, and I'm ruining it. It's written all over my face. You know I don't want to be here. So why let me ruin something great? I don't want to ruin something great. It would be a shame. So they said, well, if you stay for another season and took a spin off, would you do that? And that's what I did. That's an offer you can't refuse. Manzo, when you went into that show, did you have a little bit more, it said that you enjoyed it more, but did you have more creative control or like any type of

producing type integration or not much? On paper, never. And I have complete understanding of that in that reality world. We're all crazy. We're all crazy. And nobody's ever happy with what they're seeing. That's a good point. You have to rain, you've got to rain us in. You do. So there are those that understand it and say I sign this and I'm a big girl or a big boy and this is life and you know the court of public opinion really doesn't mean that much to me it doesn't affect my life so I'm going to take the smack and move on because next week somebody else is going to get the smack right that's true but when you have so many people all across all the networks you need to rein us in so I have a very clear and understanding and respect for

that so I don't really ask for much now okay and when you think about the differences other than the context of the show verse Manzo and Real House Whites in New Jersey what would you say kind of the biggest difference the main difference in these two shows other than of course just the context housewives is like a chess game God you would sit and you'd sit in a room especially the finale and this is the way you'd be like yeah watching every door it's like a game what's going to happen you don't know it's going to happen it is truly real all of it you don't know what's going to happen so you're sitting there thinking about what's what's transpired

over the last few months okay what's going to happen when's the other shoe going to drop who's coming in the door and it's just with man's owed it was just it was all love it was my husband and my kids nobody's going to hurt anybody there so it was a very relaxed very fun atmosphere versus the chess game Yeah, interesting. You have this aura, this energy, and just even the way you deliver of such, not many people possess, but such certainty. Like you have such an air of confidence and certainty, like you know exactly how it is. And it doesn't seem like much phases you because you know what's best for you.

And those are decisions you make. Is that something you've had forever? Is this something that's been like learned over time? Well, certainly age has a lot to do with an experience and life experience. You know, they say as you get older, you become more self, you know, assured. But it's funny, when I talk to people that I knew in high school, oh, you were always like that, Caroline. Interesting.

But I never felt like that. I was always, I'm a very quiet person, believe it or not in real life. I'm very quiet. If I'm asked an opinion, I'll give it. Otherwise, I'm more of an observer. But I guess I had it all the time and I didn't know it. I know I've always been very sure of myself. I've always been very confident of myself in that when I walk into a room,

I don't feel like, ooh, everybody's staring at me. me and nobody likes me. I always felt that if you don't like me, that's cool because sometimes I don't like people either. You don't like people just because sometimes I'll look at somebody's face and say, I don't like his face and decide not to like him. That's life. You can't expect everybody to like you. That's fair. I was going to ask you your number one tip, because so many people do walk into rooms and they get this imposter syndrome and they're fearful, the people around them and they get nervous and they just overthink everything. And there's a lot of people that are listening to this right now that feel that every day, what's a piece of advice

you'd give to those people. Walk in the room and be yourself. Just be yourself. There is such, there is such, and it's a terrible word to have to use, but courage. Yeah. And being yourself, I'm getting older.

I'm 61 years old. There's no Botox, there's no fillers. You know, I'm not trying to be something I'm not. Just because the camera, if you're on TV, the camera doesn't lie, it's going to get you. And if you're in a work environment, the lies are going to catch up to you. So you'd rather ask for, you know, forgiveness when you do something wrong

than having to explain yourself and backing yourself against the wall. So don't lie. What did lying get you nowhere? Yeah, exactly. It's going to catch up to you. And I think the lying just like increases this front of the expectation you're trying to build. Yeah. And then that expectation that never meets the expectation people have because you're lying.

And it's just this constant catch-up game. Everybody spots a chameleon. Yes. But now more than ever, I feel. Everybody's going to say, well, she's red, she's green, she's blue, she's a chameleon. Everybody spots a chameleon. Just be you. Stay green. That's so sure. Stay great. There's the advice. Take away from that. All right, I want to talk about BravoConn. BravoCon was this, you know, just recently happened the last couple weeks.

2014 was technically the last time you're on Real Housewives in New Jersey. You know, all these years removed, going back to BravoCon, what was it like? Well, I was there in 2019 pre-COVID. Okay. Then stopped, of course, because of COVID. So I was invited back again this year. In 2019, I got a really great reception. It was nothing compared to what I got.

I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Eight years later, though, from being on the show, what do you think it is? What do you attribute it to? I think it's, you know, absence mix of heart grow fonder, I guess. I don't know. I'm very, you know, if you were to look at my social media, you very rarely see me. It's mostly my granddaughter of food because I love to cook.

So I'm really not out there as much, I guess, for no reason. It's just that, I don't know, my brain just works that way. But I think it's that people just haven't seen me in so long that it was exciting for them to see me because I certainly thought that I was going to be in the has-been pile. I did not think for a moment that I would get the reception I got. And I was shocked and quite frankly, humbled by it. It was really amazing. It's pretty rewarding.

You talked a little bit about how much you would want to get paid to go back on the show. I think about BravoCon, that's a hard ticket to get. It's also expensive. To buy a ticket, obviously, you are of talent. But to buy a ticket is pretty damn expensive. Do they compensate their talent for going, or is it like part of a thing you've got to show up to this stuff if you're still affiliated with Bravo? I can only speak for myself. I'm not active on Bravo, but I was compensated.

Interesting. Okay. So that's maybe an assumption most people were. Who knows? Is there any drama when, like, obviously there's drama on the show. But when you're in situations like that with other talent and other groups, do you run into drama at Robocon? Oh, yeah. There was two fights in my hotel.

Stop. Yep. Two fights, one on the rooftop, one in the lobby. And it's my understanding that there was a fight on stage amongst a group of women. Aye, aye. Yeah. How do you hit, what's your strategy from dealing with conflict? I walk away.

Always? Always. There's a way to have conflict. that you can maintain your dignity. I was always very, you know, you're born with a name when you die with a name. I'm not letting anybody screw up my name. Okay.

So if you want to have a fight with me on reality television, that's great. I'll answer to you. But the way I'm sitting here talking to you right now is the way I will answer you. I will never throw something at you. I will never hit you. I will never push you.

I will never do any of that because I won't do it in my real life and I'm certainly not going to do it for someone else. So again, it goes, back to knowing who you are and what your legacy, what you want to leave behind. But there were fights and there were things that I just sat there. It was like, wow. But that's the world we live in today and that's what people want.

These things certainly wouldn't be as successful as they are. Without it. Without it. Yeah. So it's the crazy recipe that there's that balance of, you know, I never was ashamed of being on reality TV for a couple. of different reasons. Again, you're brave enough to put yourself out there. Yeah. It's a lot, especially with social media. Yes. People make assumptions on who you are and what you are. And I've never let the hurtful things bother me. Yeah. And I never, I never, like, lean into the good things that are said

about me. Yeah. Because you don't know me. So you stay, you just stay balanced. You don't get high from the high or low from the low. It's a job. All right. What about, I find that I'm similar to you in that context. And And I've had conversations with like a Ramona singer, clearly not. And, you know, that's just her personality. But there are times when I want to, like, say, suppose someone's irritating me and there's conflict. In my brain, I'm like, oh my God, you said of a bitcher! But what I do is I like, my strategy is I control it.

I'm like, okay, understand, just relax, don't elevate it. Stay composed here. There's no need for someone to elevate your emotions like that. And then I'm not like outside, it's different than what's happening in my brain. keep my composure right do you feel like your reaction is to go nuts and like want to like and then you calm yourself down are you just naturally like i'm not going to be faced by you guys you're not going to be faced naturally how you do because you you want when you when you when you yell when you scream you are not being heard that's so damn true okay but when i'm

talking to you like this you're and everything and i'm like well i understand why you're saying that Can you explain to me why you said that? Yeah. Or would you rather, or are you talking about? What did you hear? I hear the first one. You've softened me. So often.

Because I want to listen. And when you yell, this portrays to anybody listening. This portrays the relationships, your business conversations, anything. When someone yells or attacks, I instantly become defensive. And when I become defensive, I think I become the worst version of me because I'm no longer trying to, like, find a solution. I'm trying to, like, lead with my ego. May not be trying to find a solution.

I'll hit you right between the eyes, but I'll do it calmly. I won't raise my voice. Because nobody hears you when you raise your voice. Yeah. It's white noise. Right? So if you're calm and you're just like, the best thing you could do somebody when they're insulting you,

really? Okay, well, boom, right between the eyes. Calmly. It's very effective. I love it. And it doesn't make you crazy. You just walk out and you go, okay, my job is done.

Thank you very much, bye. Oh, my gosh. And you deploy so much less energy. Like you think about the blood pressure and hypertension when you're going nuts. And of course there are times when you have to yell because you just, you know, but for the most part,

calm always wins. Calm always wins. Another unbelievable trading secret from Caroline. I want to transition to social media a little bit. So you go on Real Housewives of New Jersey and you have your own show and you build up an Instagram following up 815,000 followers and growing, have you been able to monetize social media since being on the show?

Yes. Social media is a very, very powerful tool. And what has been the best way you've been able to monetize it through your businesses or through ad deals? Through it all. Ad deals, businesses, promoting your businesses. I just announced last week that I'm doing a YouTube cooking show so that all was promoted through my social media and will be continued to be promoted through my social media. It's free. It's you. Nobody can change you and what your thoughts are.

The way you look is the way you choose to look. It's free, so take advantage of it. It's a very powerful tool. I love it. And we have to plug your YouTube channel. What is it? What's the name of it? It's called Food, Love and Chaos with Caroline Manzo.

Food, love and chaos? And what is like the specialty food that you guys are calling? Is there one specialty? Is there a type of genre of food? No, there really isn't. As I said, I've got a cookbook coming out in 2024, so it's going to be less of what's in the cookbook and more of things that little quick recipes and quick diginos for those people that don't know how to cook.

It's teaching people not to be afraid of cooking with simple recipes. And I'm hoping to have guests on, and I'm hoping to invite the viewers to challenge me with the recipe to say, okay, this is my Polish grandmother's pierogies, make them. Bring it on. And I'll try to make them, that kind of fun stuff. It's really fun. I've got producers from my housewife's days and Manzo days doing the show. So it's really television quality, legitimate, good stuff.

All right. Well, guys, they say in the YouTube world, subscribe, like, and comment. So go check that out. We've talked a lot on this podcast and other episodes about the business of social media. Obviously, your business background is deep. What is the biggest business mistake you've made since monetizing your social media? The biggest business mistake is not doing more. Like putting more content or more ads or more what?

More content. Okay. Gotcha. Because again, I'm at that age where I'm like, why? Why? Why do I need an headache? I don't think I've ever done a selfie in my life. You know what I mean?

So for me, it's having to put more and having to put more of me. So I think that's my biggest mistake. Again, that goes back to don't be a friend. afraid to do it. And this is something that's, you know, TikTok, all this stuff. TikTok makes my brain hurt. I can't do it. Makes my brain hurt. But we didn't see a TikTok. Do you have an account, do you? No. Do you have one of the, a lot of people don't have an account, but they scrolled. You're scrolling. You're out on TikTok. Nothing. So I see a lot of TikTok through Instagram and Facebook and all that, and I just click it and my kids will send me stuff. But it makes my brain

hurt. And I know I should be on it, but I don't. So if you would, that would be my keeping up with The trends as often as I should, I probably don't. Okay. And then when you look back at your social media platform and that business is a whole opposite of that, what would you say is like one of the best moves you made or best brand deals you did or a big success story from social media in your eyes? Well, doing a Super Bowl commercial, I can't get better than that. I mean, that's pretty damn cool.

To check that off the bucket list is pretty damn cool. I can't get better than that. And that was through that. Yeah, gotcha. All right, well, tell us a little bit about the book you wrote, 2013. Let me tell you something. It was a massive, massive success. If someone hasn't heard of the book, can you give us a synopsis of what it is and where they can find it? It was funny because I was approached to do the book back then, and I really wanted to do a cookbook. And they said, no, we want you to give an advice book. And at that time, I had a lot of advice columns out. And I always feel funny about that because I'm not trained. I'm not formally trained. I'm just, you know, my housewife in New Jersey, right? So they wanted it to be more of my life story with advice and stuff like that. And that's what it was. And I threw in a few recipes. That's pretty much what it was.

It was through Harper Collins. Oh, cool. That's through my books here, Harper Collins. So this new cookbook, the cookbook I'm doing now is through Chronicles, a different, it's more cookbook savvy. But it was fun to do. It was unexpected and surprising that, again, that someone would want to do a book with me. So I had fun with it.

Okay. So give us pitch this real quick. There's a lot of cookbooks out there. What's going to be different about your cookbook and why should we grab? My cookbook, I hope, is different because, again, I'm teaching people not to fear cooking. Okay. People are intimidated by cooking. We're intimidated by everything.

Cooking is very easy and it's so fun. And it's going to be mostly, I'm going to show you something, how to make a marinara sauce, for instance. But I want you to take this and I want you to make it your own. Got. So customize it. Make it your own. Make it yours. Yeah.

Okay. Very cool. I got to ask you, best restaurant in New Jersey or the city? In the city, I go to Perse all the time. I love per se. That's your go to.

Snobby, I know, but. Sorry. In New Jersey, I like my local restaurants. I go to Novelli and Wayne, and I go to Giuseppe's in North Haldon. I'm a local girl. I like to stay local. Yeah.

Okay. Local girl likes to stay local. Yeah. I want to ask a few things just about like just money management or money tips and tricks. obviously have a lot of affluence where you are today. Did you grow up in always an affluent family, or what was your upbringing? Grew up entrepreneurs, everyone.

My father was a bull. Didn't graduate high school, but was a genius. He was a mechanical engineer in plastics industry. He actually pioneered the plastic mill cases, you see. That was his design. He didn't have enough money to make a patent on it. But, yeah, he didn't have the money to. One of 11 children I am, and he was just a bull.

And I learned a lot from him. I learned what to do and what not to do from him. I saw him make millions. I saw him lose millions. I saw him make millions again. I saw him lose millions again. So I think the journey that I was on through him taught me that never to be settled, never to think I'm good because you're never good.

Look at us with COVID. That happened. We were closed our restaurant for two solid years. two years and thank God we survived it we had the year of COVID and then the following year where they were letting 10% in whatever we're a banquet facility there is no 10% you can't do that we were closed for two solid years not one penny coming in but you're prepared for it you're smart you don't think you know I'm on the top of the hill and I'm not going to roll down you can roll down that hill you can roll down that hill that's another good trading secret

Of your 11 siblings, have they kind of taken the same things you've taken from your father and approach their careers? I think so. We're all entrepreneurs, every one of us. Every one of you guys. All right. And what is the biggest financial tip you can give someone right now that when they hear finance, budgeting, or saving, they're just like, I don't know where to start.

Well, you have to start safe. It's funny, my daughter said this morning, she said it's over a TikTok. It was about investing. Yeah. And she said, I don't have a lot to invest, but I think I should start investing. money because there's a recession coming and my husband was in the family chat the response was yes but invest safely yeah there are the investments that you can make they're safe and there are investments that you can make they're risky you have to gauge where you are in life okay be

confident enough in yourself and who find somebody that knows their stuff I'm not a money person but my people around me are money people okay Ask the questions you need to ask, don't be ashamed to ask the questions. Yeah. Right. And trust in others where you're weak, trust in their strengths. Ooh, great advice. Yeah.

All right. I want to ask you about this. It's a little bit more about life, but I'm just, I'm thinking about it. One of 11. And so, you know, that was, I mean, almost a generational norm in those days. You see what's happening today, right? People are getting married later. Your kids are having grand kids later.

and there's fairly, rarely, do you see a couple having 11 siblings this one? What's your just take on the way, just like relationships, marriage and things have changed drastically since the days of getting married at like 18 and having 11 siblings? I think today they give up too easily. They expect perfection. Nothing's perfect in life. Only a fool believes in perfection in any aspect of their life. The quotes you're dropping here, just think only a fool believes in perfection.

It's true because, you know, nothing's perfect and you have to accept people for what they are with the understanding, if there's abuse, if there's neglect, things like that. But if they leave their socks on the floor, leave the toilet seat up, or have a curling iron on the counter. It should happen.

Things happen, man. Yeah. You know, you're not perfect. When you're looking at the mirror and say you're perfect, then you could yell at somebody else. Yeah. And I think that the social media, I think, is the devil in relationships.

Yeah. So why'd you like this one's picture? Because I liked it. Yeah. Yeah, didn't even think about it. I'm not going to marry her. I liked it. Stop it.

You know what I mean? You know, you're married, you're not blind. God still gave us two eyes. You know what I mean? Exactly. That's where I would say, well, I'm the biggest flirt in the world. And my husband would say, she's the biggest flirt, but she comes home to her, I'm not blind. I appreciate something pretty, let me have it.

Right? It's the same thing. So get over, stop it. Yeah. But I think social media is a big problem in relationships. You mentioned people want perfect. mentioned how you don't have anything fake you don't do the Botox you age the way you age when you're obviously most real housewives of New York that's not the case do you think we've

grown accustomed to this culture of almost like pursuit of perfection because of social media like we're trying to make everything this perfect image of what it should be even though it's not the reality without a doubt I was on vacation not too long ago with my husband And there was a girl standing by the bar and the, you know, the palm trees, the ocean, everything. I sat, I was entertained. She entertained the hell out of me because I was just watching her, probably a good 15, 20 minutes, the lips, the yang. I'm like, look at this one. Look at this one.

Look where she is. And look what she's doing. She's wasting 20 minutes. Look at her. But I'm wasting 20 minutes watching her because I couldn't get over it. It's, you know, look at the perfect life I live. Look how beautiful I am. You know, with the filters, I don't filter any of my photos.

Yeah. Because when I walk in a room, you're going to see Caroline, the same Caroline you see, that's on social media. And you're only fooling yourself, and you're only putting yourself in a dangerous position to get depressed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? So you see these kids taking photos in front of things that look like they're away,

but they're not away, or look like they're in Tau or something like that, when they really just run in the friggin' lobby, take a picture and run out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, be yourself and be grateful for what's around you. And to me, the simplest things in life are the best things, you know. So stop trying to compete with everybody because you can't. You can't. I know when I walk in a room, I'm not the prettiest person in the room, but my face isn't scaring anyone.

So that's cool. It's fine. You know? It's a great perspective. I think the Mirage thing also connects to social media. and it connects to what you said about the people that get nervous when they walk into rooms, you continue to set these expectation that's not real. And it goes back to exactly what you just said.

Like, if you're yourself and you're comfortable in your shoes, everything becomes easier. Everything becomes happier. I think it's great, great life advice. But Caroline, we have to wrap with a trading secret. So it's something that one can't find in a textbook or learn in a classroom or Google. It could be about money management, career navigation, life lessons. What is the Caroline trading? secret you could leave us with. For me, the thing that has gotten me through life is no fear,

be yourself, and accept the fact that not everyone is going to like you, agree with you, or you're not going to get every deal. There's plenty of doors. There's plenty of deals. There's plenty of people. It's great advice. I'm going to drill down on your trading secret. You said no fear. If someone says, I want to be like that, I hear Caroline, that's what I want, but I am fearful. what's the trading secret you'd give them to get over fears? Baby steps. Okay. Take baby steps. One little challenge at a time.

Look yourself in the mirror and say, I'm good. No matter what you, I'm good. You know, we all have a value in this world. We all have a place in this world. As I say, there's a lid for every jar when you find somebody. You know, we all have a value. We all have a place.

Know your value, accept your place and have no fear in trying to do what you want to do. The worst thing you could do is stay, complacent and not do something because then you'll never win yeah that's great advice all right you guys heard it there take a note or two there were a lot of pages in this chapter for you guys to take back at home and apply them to your life caroline thank you so much for coming on training secrets your new book your youtube show and your instagram where can everyone find everything that you have going on just follow me on instagram caroline manzo same thing with twitter and facebook my voice

is from Bravo con gone. And then everything will filter into the YouTube and the book and stuff like that. Amazing. Guys, go check out Caroline Manzo. Unbelievable. Thank you so much for being on this episode of Trading Secrets.

And make sure you stay tuned for the recap. And the curious Canadian who's going to recap with me is a huge real housewife's a New Jersey fan. So he'll give you his take. Ding, ding, ding. We are closing in the bell to the Caroline Manzo episode, my mother's favorite, favorite personality on Bravo. I always say, when I have someone from Bravo, got to call Mom. She loves Caroline. And now I know why. I mean, just, I could have

talked to her all day. And I feel like anytime I have an issue or I get in a fight with a colleague, a boss, Caitlin, I just want to call Caroline for advice. David, Curious Canadian. He's with us. What did you think? First off, love the podcast. For those at home, Jason just consoled me in a heart to heart for about 30 minutes before this. And it's nice to come off and have an escape from reality. So thank you, Jason, for that. Always have someone there, someone you can talk to. It helps a million.

Having her on was great. I have to be honest. I'm not the biggest on the Housewives game. And when we said we had another Housewives on, I was getting ready for like the jersey, the loud. Yeah. And boy, oh boy, was she like talking to like, you know, Mother Earth. Super, super wise, tons of wisdom.

Such a great, like, episode of reflection. and advice. So good on you, Jay, for getting her on, and Mama Kluge has good taste, so I shouldn't have been too surprised. What was the word you just used? Mother love. I was just typing as you said.

Mother Earth. Caroline, you are Mother Earth. I've heard a lot of descriptions, and they're all positive. That is probably the best one. I also want to just quickly touch on. I think it's important what you said. Maybe it's not business.

Maybe it's not finance or money. But we jumped on the pod. You're struggling a little bit with certain situations. We talk through it. And I think there was a common denominator, it also was work situation, so everyone knows, like, this is another stuff. And I think the theme of it was actually people pleasing, like carrying the weight of

trying to please everyone. And so I do that often. It's part of my enneagram, and it's part of who I am. And the problem is when you carry that much weight, it leaves you stressful and so unproductive. And I actually do tie this theme to Caroline, because I think she is one of the last persons that I've ever come across that like gives a shit about people pleasing like she is who she is she knows what she is she talked about how she talks to some of these people she doesn't get overly emotional and I've never seen someone who's just so confident in what they stand for and who they are and it kind of brings it back to like people pleasing like there's not a people pleasing bone in her body she's just her taking or leave it yeah and that's why it was like honestly like such

a soothing listen when I listened to a back right before this. And, um, you know, such great reflections, so proud of how she's carried herself through this. And, and I think obviously that's why she's as relatable and successful as she is. A couple, you know, one-liners that I have to kind of remind myself here, like only a fool believes in perfection. People pleasing is a form of perfection. You want to believe that you're doing the right thing all the time and everyone sees it for what it is. And that's not necessarily the case. So, you know, got to stay true to yourself in, all these situations. So great advice from Caroline and great advice from Jason on the on the podcast earlier. So thank you for that. The one-liners. I love it. All right. Did she curious Canadian?

I know you're always curious. All the compliments and accolades to Caroline, I think are well-deserved. My mom's going to love this one. But what do you, what are you curious about? What are you thinking about after this one? Because that's what you do best. Yeah. So, you know, she, for all the wisdom and advice she gave us, she was very close to the vest with some numbers. So I want to start talking a little about some investing things true to the podcast and then some of the opportunities that maybe she was involved and we can kind of do some of our best guesstimating for that. So first and foremost, one thing she talked about was helping her daughter who wants to get into investing. And she asked her daughter or her daughter asked for advice and she said, you know, start investing,

but start safe. And that was kind of her overarching theme. I need to ask you, if you're giving advice to someone who wants to start investing, whether it be a family member or someone who's listening into the podcast, would you say to start safe? And I'm curious to hear your answer because I have a rebuttal. Okay. The tough part about answering this is everyone has different risk tolerance. So if I tell someone to start safe, who in generally is not risk averse, it's not within their wheelhouse. It's not what they are. It's not how they operate. But in general, I would tell people to start safe. My correlation would be, I love analogies, right? My analogy would be you get someone who's excited about running. They want to start running. They just

just got a pair of running shoes and they say, I'm going to go run the New York City Marathon, which you can't do anyway because you've got to qualify unless you're in like a charity group. But you want to run a marathon. I'd be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, love where your head's at, ambitious. It's great that you want to do that. And there's a lot of benefits to running, but like, let's slow down. Let's talk about running form.

Let's talk about nutrition before and after. Then let's talk about doing a mile or half a mile. Then a mile. Like, I think a laddered approach to investing is always the way to go. And I'll end with this, and I want to hear your retort. In the last two years, like 2001, 2020, for sure, we have seen people do the, I'm going in full speed because people were getting rich quick and there was evidence of it with cryptocurrency, with NFTs, with quick money making schemes when the market was up hot, penny stocks, everything,

options, all those things that weren't working years prior historically haven't shown were working. People did it. The problem is they didn't know anything other than going all in, expecting a big return. So they continue to go all in, and now they either got their asses handed to them, or they tell with fraud like FTX. So that's why I would say, you know, baby steps, laddered, structured approach. What's your response to that, Cures Canadian? My response is, that's a very good answer, because I was going to challenge, you know, if someone needed the excitement or the, you know, to get involved in it and see the fast returns or see a small amount crash and burn miserably to know not to do that, which all could be reasons that if you don't start safely,

that it could be a pro or con for you in the short term to realize not to do that as long as you're not losing a ton of money on it. But I think you summed it up pretty good there. That was a pretty good response. Pretty quick on your feet. Are you there over in LA at the Deere Media Studio? You know, it's good to be here in Deer Media headquarters. We do miss you. I wish you were here. But, you know, I'm moving quick today because I started off slow. 4 a.m. start. And the first podcast. I tripped over like 15,000 words that Ford Marshall's going to have to edit out. But yeah, we're here. We're moving. We're grooving. What else you got for me? Well, speaking of L.A., the host of the Super Bowl and the most recent Super Bowl champion, L.A. Rams, Caroline mentioned

that she was in a Super Bowl commercial and the Curious Canadian light bulb went off because I thought, I was like, oh, great, he's going to get into the details of Super Bowl commercials and what she is and maybe we'll find out how much you get paid. You didn't. So that's where I'm here to save the day. Do you know more about the Super Bowl commercial that she was in? Was it just herself? What was it promoting? Do you know how much she got paid for it? Do you know how much the ad cost? I'll shut up. You can take over. Yeah. So, I mean, here's the deal. It's interesting with guests, right? So every guest that comes in the show and they know the premise of the show and they agree to come on it. And Caroline actually told me after the podcast that she doesn't do podcasts. She

doesn't do interviews. I'm one of the only, if not the only one she's done. And I asked her why. And she's, because you're doing something that can impact people's lives. You're not asking me about my drama with other real housewives. You're doing something that could change someone's trajectory. So everyone that comes on money mafia back home, we go through this process of making sure they know. What we don't do is we don't say to them, are you prepared to give a specific dollar amounts for certain circumstances? Because the tough part is, I don't know if that Super Bowl conversation is going to come up. And part of it works out really well because some people are just feeling it.

And then they get in the discussion. And they know, they feel empowered and they want to talk. And they open up more than they probably would if we were pre-prepping. And other people are just like a closed vault. And I can try every angle to break that vault open, like hack away. And I think I did that with Caroline. But if you're not getting anything, it's tough to bite on it. So a question for you, Money Mafia.

Do you think we should continue to do the approach of bring them on, let them know the premise, and just be good with questions to try and get numbers? Or do you think that we need to have conversations before they come on and say, we need to know X, Y, and Z, otherwise you can't come on? Now, if we do that, I think it would limit the amount of guests we can get in the big guess, especially someone like Caroline. So you guys let us know, please, five stars in the reviews. I see in the reviews you guys are loving on the Curious Canadian.

that makes me so happy, and please give us your advice. To do prescreen interviews to make sure they'll give numbers or to continue the raw reaction in general discussion. You let us know, we'll adjust accordingly. The commercial was Sabra. Let's talk Super Bowl. And there was about 20 massive celebrities in that. The D'Amelios were in that.

Doug the Pug was in that. There was just like, I mean, literally go through the commercials, all these celebrities. Caroline is one of those real housewives. There's only two real housewives. She's in there. So that's pretty cool. It was pretty quick.

I didn't know, and I don't know how much she got paid. But as you heard when she talked about BravoCon, she knows how to negotiate for herself. And she said, I got paid there. You better damn well believe it. I know the money I'm worth. I do want to talk about this. How much companies are paying to be on the Super Bowl for a 30-second commercial. So, David, we're going to play a little game.

I just spun this on you because I pulled up this article. on Sporting News.com. 1975, you won a 30-second commercial and you own a business, how much are you paying for the Super Bowl ad spot? 1975, $50,000. $107,000. Okay.

All right, here we go. We're going to fast forward. We're going to fast forward to 1999. 30 seconds. You are a business. How much you got to pay? Y2K, a little bit of Will Smith, getting jiggy with it.

I'm going to say, I'm going to say close to a mill. I'm going to say a cool mill for a 30-second ad read 1999. The guy started cold. He's heating up a little bit. 1.6 million, 1.6 million. 2010, you want a 30-second commercial. Don't forget mortgage crisis. You know, things got a little tough there.

2010, how much you're paying if you're a business? Inflation, 99, 2010. You're going, 1.6 in 99 is going to be 2.5 in 2010. Okay. 2.954 million. It's one of the only years from 2009. It was $2.99 million. It went down.

Let's fast forward. Their commercial was in the 2021 Super Bowl. It was the 20, yeah, 2021 season. It was in 2022, but 2021 season. How much do you think it was for a 30-second spot for Saabrow? I'm really curious on this because I'm going to keep going up. I'm going to say $5 million, but I'm curious if it's not, if it's lower, if other streaming services, you know, less more availability to record, fast forward, has any

effect on the number? I'm going to say $5.5 million. Another one of the only few dips from 2020, and obviously this was right after the pandemic. So you saw a dip. Now let's go into Super Bowl this year and we'll end the Super Bowl talking. Guys, get ready because we got Rob Grankowski coming on. I'm going to Tampa Bay to film with him in January. So Super Bowl's coming up. one of the most well-known Super Bowl champions that ever play in the NFL and a Buffalo Born Beauty on the podcast. So that's coming.

20-22, this year's Super Bowl. 30 seconds, David, how much you're paying if you're a company? Well, I'm paying $6 million just to watch Rihanna halftime show. I'm going to say $6 million. Rihanna, $6.5 million. So, yeah, I mean, obviously they have budgets. They have budgets. So I'm sure these people, they're in there quickly.

But I'm going to guess they got paid, and I'm going to guess that it was in my prediction is that Caroline got paid $40,000 to be in this commercial. Okay, so I'm going to spin a question back to you. I'm going less. I'm going less. 25 to $25 to $30,000 because I think a lot of those people think it's cool to be in a Super Bowl commercial,

so they would take a discount just like anyone would normally think. That's my guess. 2530. All right, you're a CEO of a company. You have $6.5 million budget. are you putting a 30 second ad in the Super Bowl this year? Or are you going influencer marketing and spending that $6.5 million across any influencers that you think align with your product? I'm going influencers for sure. The reason I'm going influencers is because there's obviously

a lot of statistics on who watches a Super Bowl, but you know your general impressions are going to be about $100 some million. So you're paying, you're paying for a CPM, so your cost for every thousand impressions you're making. And so I think I would rather have a targeted approach than like a generalized Super Bowl approach at 6.5. So I'm CEO of a massive, massive company. It's likely that I'm going to avoid a Super Bowl commercial. I think the spend is too great. The return isn't there. And guess who was a Super Bowl commercial last year that they didn't get their return? F-T-X. And a lot of crypto. I was watching the, I was watching.

Oh, my God. I'm plaking on his name. He came on the podcast, squack money. Pompilano? No, Jim Kramer. I've talked to Jim Kramer. Jim Kramer's episode this morning. He talked about there was the CEO from Paramount out.

Ads are down a little bit. And he was saying, anyway, in general, cryptocurrency companies like crypto.com, FDX, a bunch of them, spent so much money on advertising. And they have come out saying they have not seen the return they expected. So we'll see. Crippled.

We talked about marketing. She talked about the use of her Instagram to be able to market, you know, her new YouTube cooking show. I don't know if you've been on her Instagram. It is so wholesome just like her. I felt like I was on like any, you know, grandmothers, Instagram, just, you know, pictures of the sauce and of her grandkids and no filters and no edits and no ad sponsors. If you haven't, if you haven't, it's probably the most wholesome 800 plus thousand Instagram

going so far. but last thing that I'm going to ask you. Can I say one thing about that, the wholesome Mother Earth? Another comment she made after the podcast, she talked a lot about like how managing appearance is like really important to her. And when she said that, she's saying like her true authentic look is exactly how she wants to be perceived. She said, I don't dye my hair.

I don't put injectables. I don't put, you know, no hate against that. But she doesn't do fillers or both. talks or you know she made a joke about like fake boobs and fake this and fake that she said like what am I telling my kids what am I telling my grandkids when I'm doing all this stuff to like try and attempt to look younger than them and she was talking about how like toxic that was and so it's just so fascinating to me to like talk to her on the pod and and after the pod and she's just such a pure real human that is so comfortable in her skin and in everything that she operates like

her brain, just everything, it was one of the most refreshing, like, people I've ever spoken to. Yeah, her line, uh, these are real and I love my husband was like so, so funny. That's good. That's good. It was so funny. Definitely like if I had to listen to an episode of like drama and like high pitch voices and screaming at each other, I would have thrown my laptop against the wall with, uh, how I was feeling going into into the day. But I got to leave you with one thing. She said housewives was like a chess game. Getting numbers out of her looks to be a game of chess. We do pretty good job of predictions with numbers.

She gave a great negotiating advice. Never give them a number. She knows her value. She wants to see how much they value her. What do you think the number would be for her to go back on a full season on Bravo? I'm not going to say real housewives. I'm going to say on Bravo, knowing what we know about reality TV, let's say an eight episode season, she's the star.

She's back in business. What are you saying for eight episodes? Eight episodes. I'm going to say, you got me here. I think I'm going to go three quarters of a million dollars. Okay. I was going to say cool.

Yeah, okay. $750 to a mill is my prediction. She has such an incredible value, and I've talked to a lot of Real Housewives fans that I bring her name up, and people go nuts, David. They absolutely love her. The other thing, too,

is I think you mentioned the drama, piece, right? Like, she is not exactly what you didn't want to listen to today. She's everything you wanted to listen to. But I have been told, especially by my mom who's watched every episode she's ever been on, is that no one can handle drama better than her. Because drama comes, and she doesn't run from it. She steps into it. But like she said, she'll hit you right between the eyes and she'll do it in a way that nobody else does because she doesn't lean with ego. And it's impressive. She's Mother Earth. I wish I was in L.A. with you guys. Keep crushing it. I know we got some great podcasts. It's in the

hopper here. And I'm excited to be able to listen and share with everybody. Yes, we had Katie Maloney from Vanderpump today. We had Tracy Tootie from Million Dollar listing LA. And I think we might be even going to the premiere party tomorrow. We'll see. We have a ton of other big guests coming out. I think we have Val coming, right, from Dance With the Stars. Evan, Evan, any other any other, we're corporate Natalie Part 2. She left her job and she's now Forbes 30 and 30 at social media. So that'll be fascinating. Huh? Who? Dylan Efron, Zach Affron's brother,

who we represent on the talent management side. Who else we got? I just watched Zach Ephron's Mother Earth series on Netflix, season one and two. I love it. And next week, we have Griffin Johnson. So everyone should tune into that. I don't care.

If you're into TikTok or not, his story about how he got found on TikTok and where he got, like, completely screwed over. But, then was able to take advantage of down the road. It's wild. It's a wild story from a kid who has just a whole journey that's just absolutely nuts. So you'll be blown away. So we got, obviously this episode, Carolyn Manzo, we got Griffin Johnson and then David, we got some of the Money Mafia's favorite episode. It's the Jason Tells All, where you are the host. That'll

be the last Monday of the year. David will be drilling me, where I make the money, how much I make and whatever legally I can share, you're going to hear an open book from me you've never heard before. Maybe it's a whole other year doing this that I'm just like, fuck it. David, anything else you got before we close the bell? Enjoy the sunshine, boys. All right. We love you. Thank you guys for tuning in. If you could please remember to give us five stars, we would greatly appreciate it. Go follow us on Trading Secrets. We do have a Trading Secrets All Access Group. If you want to join that, it's a networking group. We have an

event coming up in about a week or so. And all I could say is thank you for tuning into another episode of Trading Secrets. One, hopefully you couldn't afford to miss. 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.