Trading Secrets - Alex Bennett, host of Mean Girls Pod, goes from $110K at Barstool to building her own media company! Professional, Financial and Personal $ecrets before, during and after Barstool Days.

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

This week, Jason is joined by content creator, podcast host, and former Barstool Sports personality, Alex Bennett! Alex co-hosts the Mean Girl podcast alongside Jordyn Woodruff and has been a content creator for the network since she was hired on in 2021. Prior to joining Barstool, Alex was known for her appearance on Bravo’s TV reality show Sweet Home Alabama where she worked for the show’s star, Jennifer Welsh. Shortly after, Alex was discovered by Barstool when a string of social media posts of her following and her mother went viral. A few years later, 500,000+ social media followers, Alex has taken full advantage of her major career change.  Alex gives insight to when she started talking about money, what the hiring process and contract was like when she started at Barstool, why she thinks you have to do things for free sometimes, how she started picking herself over other people, why she has to stop looking at the numbers for the podcast, thinking outside the box with OnlyFans. Alex returns in the first ever before and after to reveal the numbers behind her time at Barstool, the process and timeline of how she left Barstool, how they almost lost the IP due to ghosting, where she stands with Dave currently, how she launched her own media company, the money behind her divorce, and liking herself more. What platform is her favorite? What role did LinkedIn play in her getting hired at Barstool? What is the worst investment she ever made? What is the best thing that has ever happened to the podcast? How many offers did they get after leaving Barstool? Alex reveals all that and so much more in another episode you can’t afford to miss!  Host: Jason Tartick Co-Host: David Arduin Audio: Declan O’Connell Guests: Alex Bennett Stay connected with the Trading Secrets Podcast!  Instagram: @tradingsecretspodcast  Youtube: Trading Secrets Facebook: Join the Group All Access: Free 30-Day Trial 

Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. I'm your host, Jason Tartick, and welcome to the pre-market trading segment, where I tell you a little bit about what you can expect from today's guest, something you need to know going into the market and a little update from my personal life before we ringing the bell with our guest. Now, every episode, we do the pre-market trading segment. We do the guest, and then we have the recap with the Curious Canadian. Today is an exception.

Today was supposed to be the Jason Tells All episode, where I'm in the hot seat. And David Ardoin, the Curious Canadian, who is a good friend and does the recaps with me, grills me the way that I grill our guests. All the things you might want to know. What was the biggest partnership I did this past year? How much did I make off social media? How did my other businesses do? What is my net worth at this year versus last year?

All the burning trading secrets questions that I try to ask my guess, I am in the hot seat four. But we will be recording that January 3rd. We had some adjustments to the calendar, so that will be coming out the week prior. Next week, you will get the Jason Tells All episode. And this week, because it's an episode like no other, we actually do not have a recap. And here's why. This is the first time ever, ever.

In Trading Secrets history, we had an interview with an individual, and I'm going to tell you who that individual is in a second. And then because there was so much transition, change, and restarts from the first interview, we interviewed her again. And in the same episode, you are going to get the before and the current. Who is the guest? Alex Bennett, the co-host of Mean Girls, which was on barstool sports platform. They'll stay with me here. When I first interviewed her, a lot of the discussion was, how did you get into Barstool? What does Barstool pay you?

How do you negotiate with people like Dave Portnoy, Erica Nardini, the CEO, et cetera? And when are you going to renegotiate? How do you understand your value, all these things? So when I first interviewed Alex, she was married, she was going in to renegotiate her contract with Barstool, and she was excited about what the few. future held for her and her trajectory within the company. In the second interview, which is in this episode, Alex got divorced. Alex had a departure from Barstool. The negotiation did not go her way. And then she started a media company. So you can imagine me being the interviewer

that I like to be and the questions that I ask. We talk everything from the departure to Barstool? How much did you make at Barstool? How much did you make from day one to when you left? Did you get your brand back? When you went through the divorce? How did that work? And by the way, she was married to a billionaire. So you can imagine just the moving parts of the money when it comes to marriage and divorce. Ask about how much money it costs to start her new media company. Are they making money? Do they think they'll be where they eventually were at Barstool? all the burning questions and Alex you're going to hear

she's a sharp cookie and she's a sharp shooter and she has got a quick tongue so when I put her in the hot seat she comes firing right back with unbelievable answers this is an episode like no other this is a before and after

all in one no recap with Alex Bennett now if you're new to training secrets make sure just do us a favor go subscribe go follow you have no idea how much it helps us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to the podcast, right now just do us a favor, go right in the app and just hit that follow button. It truly helps us. And remember to give us five stars

and let us know a guest you think we should have or your biggest takeaway from this episode. So that's a little bit about what you can expect from today's guest. I'll give you a little update from the market. I figure it's 2024. So why don't I give you a little update of what happened last year. 2023 was a massive year for U.S. equities and specifically the S&P 500 index. The last time I checked, it was up about 25% for the entire year. Now, we saw a lot of winners and we saw losers, but we saw a ton of technology stocks benefit from the rising demand of artificial intelligence products, AI.

You're going to hear me talk a lot more about AI in 2024 because it is a lot. is changing the landscape of everything, how we work, who will be employed, why they'll be employed, who will lose their jobs? I mean, we think it's a scary thing right now, but I think in the next 10 years, 50% of current jobs right now will be replaced by AI. So that's going to have a huge impact on the market. Now, the end of the industry slump that was caused by COVID-19 lockdowns also helped lift shares of transportation companies in S&P 500. So we saw transportation stocks have huge years, like Uber. Here are some of the biggest winners in 2023 for stocks specifically.

Navidia, Meta, which is Facebook, Royal Caribbean Group, Builders First Source. Now, you might not think that technology would drive growth of building companies, But let me tell you, it did. BLDR, Builders First Source. We talked about transportation. Shares of builder rose more than 155% in 2023. Uber, we talked about transportation. The stock was up roughly 142% for the year. Now, the market advanced significantly, but inflation, high interest rates and falling demand for COVID-19 treatments were among the reasons some of these stocks got crushed in 23. These were the big losers. FMC Corp took a 49% hit. Nphase had much troubles in the green sector taking a 47% hit. Dollar General, a massive change in consumer behavior driven by high

inflation had a huge impact on Dollar General Corp as the discount retailer was down roughly 45% this year. Moderna and Pfizer, those companies got smoked at down 44% this year. So there's a little update, some big winners of 2023, some big losers of 2023, why and what to expect for next year. Now, a little update for my personal life, man, I don't know. This holiday season, it was so good to be with family and friends. And I feel so fortunate for my physical and mental health and my family and the people I love. But man, I don't know. I feel like mentally I was a little bit in a slump. But that is behind me. It is a new year. I am so pumped up for 24. I said it on my Instagram. I'll say it here. I think we had to run through 2023 to break through

in 2024. And this is the year of executing, the year of doing, the year of changing, the year of driving things in a direction that haven't been driven before. The year of just making it happen by pouring into myself and the things that I need and I want. And I hope that you can do the same for you and your family and your loved ones. So without further ado, happy new year. I hope this year brings you everything you could possibly imagine and think about themes that you want going into this year. themes that could stick with you for January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, all through the year. Not just things or boxes to check that might make it through February. 2024 is going to be a huge year for everyone. It's going to be

a big year for you. It's going to be a big year for the Money Mafia. It is going to be a massive year for trading secrets. And I am so excited to share our journey together through this process. Let's ring in the bell, though. Enough of me. Enough of 2024 talk. Out with the old Jay, in with the new Jay. Let's ring in the bell with Alex Bennett, an episode like we've never had before. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets.

Today I am joined by content creator podcast hosts in Barstool Sports personality, Alex Bennett. Alex co-hosts the Mean Girl podcast alongside Jordan Woodruff and has been a content creator for the network since she was hired on in 2021. Guys, I just found out that today her contract renews, so we're going to get into that. Prior to joining Barstool, Alex was known for her appearance on Bravo's TV reality show Sweet Home, Oklahoma, where she worked for the show's star Jennifer Welsh.

Shortly after, Alex was discovered by Barstool when a string of social media posts of her following and her mother went viral. A few years later, over 500,000 social media followers, Alex has taken full advantage of her major career change. Today, we're going to talk about the unique path from going from an Oklahoma country girl to a New Yorker in the Hamptons

every single weekend, a badass business woman. Alex Bennett, welcome to training secrets. Wow, I never sit in for the intros. Remind me. You don't sit, what do you mean? I don't say, I won't read an intro in front of anybody. How come? I don't know.

Interesting. I'll just be like, I'll do it without you in here. Okay. That was great. Do you want to know where I got that strategy from? Because I won't do a podcast unless I do the intro in front of them. Where'd you get it? So Joe Rogan, this is giving some trading secrets out here, guys.

He tries to make people feel very empowered. He makes him feel really good. Like a million bucks is the strategy. I want him to feel like a million bucks. And then he disarms them. So disarm million bucks. And then you're ready for the podcast. I love that.

And the only reason I don't do it is because I feel uncomfortable. Yeah. Which is usually a place I like a place I like to. go and you should go. Yeah, yeah. So now maybe I'll force myself. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, there you go. Was it good? Did we nail the intro? It was great. I was smiling. You're feeling good? I feel disarmed. I feel like you understand. Yeah. I'm like, okay, he knows. There was a little research done. He gets it. Got it. And on top of it, guys, we are drinking a new drink that has been introduced to me, a viral sensation from Tom Hanks, then take it over by Alex Bennett. It's diet cocaine.

Diet cocaine. Okay. For anybody out there lives under a rock like myself and doesn't know what's in here, can you tell people diet coke and champagne the two best things on the planet that's it people that is 80 20 20 20 20 50 50 80 always should have more alcohol 80% champagne 20% diet coke yeah and I'll tell you guys every sip it gets better all right let's get into it you ready to trade some secrets let's do it let's just start with this when you talk about money and just your overall relationship with it do you are you comfortable talking about that or does it make you uncomfortable when you're with friends talking about like what you make what you spend are you do you avoid it or do you step into it I always avoided it because growing up, I don't know, everyone just avoided it.

And then I read a book in 2019 called Disruptor. And she was talking about how it's so weird that guys would be like, what do you invest in? But girls, we never talk about money. And so I started making a point with my girlfriends to text me like, hey, do you invest in anything? Or like, how do you and your husband structure your finances? So I started talking about things more. And I now think about it like my grocery list. Well, that's not true.

That's such a lie. I wish I did. I still feel awkward about it, but less awkward. How do they respond? If you say to your girlfriends, oh, what are you investing in? Or how much did you make this year or something? Do people step into it? Or they're like, what the fuck you're talking about, Alex? It's one or the other. They totally shy away from it. And they're like, oh, that's inappropriate to talk about that word gets in there a lot. Or they're like so empowered to talk about it, that they're like, we all deserve X, Y, Z. This is what I make. This is what I ask for.

But it's never like the middle of those two. Got it. Okay. I think that's a good segue. I love it. Well, you talked a little bit about negotiating. You talked a little bit about salaries. We heard the word like, that's inappropriate. But today, you had mentioned before we started, is your two-year renewal with Barstool Sports Contract. What does that even mean?

Like, break that down for what that means. So when I started at Barstool, when I was in the application stage, I love the way Dave handled it because we were just on a FaceTime. like the process happened really quickly and Gaz who's our head of content social was emailing with me

and him and I had a Zoom call for 30 minutes and then I took an app and I rolled over and there was a text from him saying hey can you FaceTime with Dave in 20 minutes and I was like whoa yeah I was like yeah so I face time with Dave and I think we were on the phone for like four minutes he asked me a series of questions and then he said where all did you apply

and I was like nowhere I'm either working at barstool all work for myself. And he was like, boom, email me what you want to make. And I said, okay. And then he said, but don't value you at what you're valued right now. Value yourself at what you will be worth in two years. And I was like, okay. So I hung up and I was like, well, what's that number? Yeah. Like I had no idea. It was me and my mom at the time. Okay. So I knew what I was going to ask for, she was going to get like 20, 30 percent of. Yeah. So that was like a little bit of a unique deal. But I love that he told me to email. I always felt empowered by my salary because he said, tell me what you'll be worth in two years, what you're worth

now. Send it to him. He responded back. Perfect. We can make it work. Now, I had a very beginner contract when I got my initial contract. So everything was very standard the way they do things. However, I had an option for a renewal of the third year, which would start tomorrow technically at that same exact, like, I guess it's called an option. Like, they can just renew me for one more year. I don't get a say in it. Correct. Under the same salary and everything. Exactly, same terms, everything. I've been talking to them because they're so fair and they want to empower the creator, like that's their biggest thing.

But it's so funny, I haven't seen the contract. They asked me back in January, hey, let's start talking about renewal. And I was like, let's wait a second. I don't know why I said that. But then a lot of things changed. I started doing like drink reviews, different things. So now we're talking about the contract renewal again. And there's a lot of different things you can put in there or not.

I would tell you if I knew. I don't know I haven't seen it. I don't know the number. None of it. Okay. I got a million questions. So you and your mom, so your mom's handles content, Kim, right? Yes. Okay. And so you guys actually get hired together. Correct. Did you guys interview together? No. I was hired right after Alex Cooper left. Okay. The call her daddy. Right. Right. My pitch was after Dave put out the tweet saying, we've now created the top two highest paid female podcasters, who's next. 60 million, right? That's what she got signed for with Spotify. Yes.

So you see that and you're like, okay, I could be the next $60 million girl. Well, I'm like, my name's Alex. I got a long blonde hair. So I could probably do a spin off of that. But I was like, call her daddy's not. But I was like, oh my God, I make TikToks with my mom. So I made a spin off of like, call your mommy. Okay.

And that. So when I got hired, Dave was like, will your mom come? And I was like, I'm not even going to ask her because this is my dream job. So the answer is yes. And I just went downstairs and I was like, my mom was a stay at home mom. And I was like, you have a job now. New York. It's only part time. So she started commuting back and forth. So when I was hired, yes, it was both of us. But she was part time and I was full time. Okay. So then when you put that

number out, you're putting it out knowing that your mom is going to get a small percentage because she's part time of whatever you agree to. Correct. Okay. And he says two years from now, I want you to value yourself in your head. How the fuck are you valuing two years from now when you know little to nothing and just have picked up a recent TikTok following? I had no idea. I started researching, and I had like 24 hours to do it. Yeah. But fear creeps in. Of course.

So you're like, I know what I want to be, but then if they're paying me that, I have to be that. Yeah. And so there was a lot of pressure. I didn't know what. So I googled what I, what it looked like Alex Cooper's starting salary was. Which was what? I think it said 70 online, I think. And then I called my brother and he was like, all right.

So inflation, like add a little bit. And he came up with a number that I was like, I mean, that that's great. And I still today love the number. Okay. So you threw the number. there. So let's say it's around six figures. Okay, we'll say, yeah, get it to take. Can you make bonus off that based on your performance or is there nothing like that? Because your shows have blown up. Like, can you get bonused out? No, you make now merch, yes. I guess I can only speak for me.

I don't know if there are situations where they do that. Yeah. But with mine, no. Okay. Interesting. That's something, have you negotiated anything like that for the next contract? Well, I thought of some things that I would like to negotiate. Yeah. But contracts are so, I've only done one, and it was the starting one, and I was so happy to have it. Yeah. Like, I was like, I would sign anything that you gave me.

Totally. And so on this one, I just, I need to see it. Yeah. I don't even know what my options are. Gotcha. Brianna Chicken Fry was actually right in your seat. We interviewed her, and I asked her the question. I said, if you were offered a million dollars to leave Barstool, would you leave?

Her response blew me away. She said, no, right? She said, I was offered a million dollars to leave. And then she said, I declined the offer. And she said because it was only a two-year deal. And when she was trying to do all this valuation, she's like, the value bar stool brings to me in my brand and everything else is more than that, I think, if I look at the long term. Do you have like a stance or what's your response based on her thought process of that?

I think her thought process is so accurate because I laugh. I'll be on the streets. and people will say, they'll just yell barstool at you. And you're like, okay, so I'm just like a walking, like, you know, they're the only media company with the personality themselves. Yeah, totally. And it's pretty incredible on day one where they tell you you have to be yourself. Gass was talking to my mom and I and he said, if you're not yourself, you'll fail.

And it's like to be assigned, you would think that would be really easy. It's really hard. You know how it is on the internet to be yourself because you get so much hate, XYZ. And you're like, at every turn, I just have to be me. Yeah. And so barstool is so great at that because. they empower anybody to be themselves and they just let you do your thing. And so I think what she said

is incredibly true. And long term, if you really think outside of two years, yeah, what they can provide you and the brand is massive. Yeah. Okay. I want to get, I think that's such a good point for anyone that's in any career. Before I get to that for this contract renewal, did you already put the number out there? No, I told them to send me the number. Okay. And a perfect world, percentage of increase from where you are today, what would be the perfect percentage? 20% that's reasonable i think so inflation's 5 10% all your shows are kicking ass give Alex what she wants i would love it but i haven't said that okay i've shocked myself with this negotiation i'm kind of just waiting yeah well here's what we're going to do we are not releasing

this episode until you get the deal okay once you get the deal you got to tell us if you got more than 20 and then the recap guys stay tuned we will get Alex's update if it's more than 20% you good with that i'll give it to you if it's not oh i like that either way stay tuned in the recap, we're going to get the percentage. All right. So you came in here. You got some friends here. And you actually have an intern here. Yes. Right? And so I asked your intern who is awesome over there. She's loving every second of it. I said like, what's it like working for Barstool? And she said, I don't. I'm Alex's intern. So tell me a little bit about like the structure of everything you have going on business wise as it relates like inside of Barstool

and outside of Barstool. Okay. That's a great question. So Barstool is my, I call it my hosting platform, I guess. If there's things, though, that I want to do that I can't do through them at the start, I will just go do. For example, before this, I was at Allison Olivia making jello shots with the girl that's the founder of it and the head designer. Because I make these drink concoctions. So while there are, like I have Pink Whitney and I will make high noon, I'll always throw those in there. But Alex still loves to go make these drinks. And like, Alison Olivia knows they can't pay me. I can't take payment from them. But I, so I, I kind of have these. Because of the Barstool contract. Correct. But if you weren't with Barstall, you could take payment. Yes. Okay, got it. But I love that

about Barstall. I love that I can't take payment because they've got their wheelhouse. They give us so much, XYZ. But I'll go out there and I'll be like, yeah, I'll make these drinks with you. So I have these spokes in my wheel, as I call it. Got it. It's a little bit more traditional influencer-esque. Yeah. But more so comes from a place of passion. Okay. And I just do it because I love doing it and also like network building on top of it like look who you're doing this with right like that's a huge name that you're just doing that concoction testing with and a lot of people are like they must be paying you and I'm like you don't know how many times my life I've worked for free yeah just because I know like I good piece of advice so the intern intern aims a lot of people are like

this day they'll say who would work for free and it's like she works for free she found me and she said I want to be your intern and she did it for free this summer and then she said eventually I'm going to have to be paid. And I said, I love that. Of course, you are eventually going to have to be paid. Prove your worth why you're working for free. Work your ass off. Work harder than me. And make my life easier and provide value. If you do all of those things, then you'll know that you make me money and that it would be worth it for me to pay you. So then she brought me a number that she was like, this is what I would need to make from you. I said, I have to wait on the contract. I don't know what I can pay anybody. But I, and she thinks the

same way I think of you have to do things for free, I think, a lot of times because that's, that gets you so far. And I think if you always assume you have to be paid, I don't know, I've never loved that mentality. Yeah, I think that's a good perspective. Because if you're, I think also if you're always chasing money, when are you going to find what your passion is or what you're really good at? Because you're always chasing the bag. If you're always chasing the bag, you're going to lose sight of everything else. I think that's a huge like career navigation lesson. At least I've learned in my crazy career, you know. No, I would agree with that. Yeah. And you just miss things. You miss things. If you're driven by money. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that goes back to your point of Barstool saying you have to find yourself, right? You can't be a creator unless you find yourself. I think so many people that listen to this podcast are really trying hard to find themselves. Because even if they go on social media, they're worried about what their boss is going to think or mom's going to think or dad's going to think. When they're in an office, they actually differently than they do on the weekends all the moving parts like you're in oklahoma girl you're now in new york doing these big things talking about some like you know pretty outlying stuff for probably what you talked about growing up right yes so when it comes to finding yourself what advice would you give for people back home that are like so stuck of trying to tailor their message in themselves

based on their surroundings i always joke like now you know distance wise i'm so far from home but i'm this Mean Girl podcast, what I had to deal with at the beginning, what I'm just so far from home, I guess. And, and but it's, I love Mean Girl Pod. It's so near and dear to my heart because it's an example of me finding myself and people that I grew up with, family members calling me saying like, we don't approve of this. And then me just saying, okay, but you don't know how liberating it is for me to finally just say, okay, well, I love it. Was there like one story or one thing that sparked that first comment to you? Like, do you have a memory of, of you talked about this and you got a call for mom, dad,

and grandma, grandpa saying, what the hell you do it? Yeah, yeah. Because Maine would post our clips all the time. And they would go massively viral and we're talking about vibrators or like boobgasms, anything. And my parents and my brother are like,

she doesn't even like cuss in front of us. You know, and I was like, you know, it's not like I always talked about these things with my friends. Yeah. And I just was a completely different person with you guys. It's like as a whole I'm evolving. So like the whole entire Alex is different.

And so what I would say to somebody is you start to feel it like in your gut and you're like, no, I really want to find myself. And I think it becomes a crossroad where you have to say, okay, I can please everybody else because there's more of them and there's just one of me. Or I can fill that like hole in my heart and really pick me. And I think when you pick it once, it becomes almost addicting in a good way. Yeah. And you're like, I want to keep.

doing what I want to do truly to my core. And then I think the feeling that you have inside of you gives you enough momentum to keep going. Okay. And you just say the pain of, the pain of disappointing all of them is finally not as bad as disappointing myself. So I'm just going to choose me and I'm going to be me.

It's like putting you and your needs and filling your tank as opposed to trying to fill everyone else's tank, right? Just doing it the way you want to do it, how you want to do it. Yeah. Now, one of the difficult things, especially when you're filling the shoes of Alex Cooper, is, I don't want to speak for it, but I don't know if like boundaries in her vocabulary.

She's just like, fuck it. Do you have to create some sort of boundaries of what you will and won't share? Do you have like an internal compass with that? Or are you just like, if it speaks to me, I'm going to put it up? I have, I had to learn that. Okay. Because every week when you get the clips and you watch them or when somebody has something controversial to say about yourself about about the podcast you have to say okay I learned I had to

finally say if I can look in the mirror and what I said was honest and it was true but maybe not everybody loved it but it was honest and I was okay with it but if I was lying or embellishing or something like that that was my line but other than that I became I was like I'm okay with saying anything that's honest and true and what I found was a lot of people related to it and they would DM me that they would be like oh my God same so that was the thing and it's like you're creating more relatability that's The line also was truly mean. If I'm talking about sex and stuff like that, fine. If I'm saying so-and-so is an asshole, not fine. Got it. Okay. So the name's ironic, mean girl pod, but what we've

wanted to become is actually like an empowering place where we're honest, but if we're putting someone down, then that would be a line. You try and check it. So you start the podcast, it's crushing it. What does Barstool give you as far as like reporting or analytics to know how well the show's doing everything okay like give me the numbers that like they pay attention to that you're trying to improve week after week well we are social heavy so we have a 60 minute podcast we will cut that into our producer will cut that into 18 clips give or take 60 second clips we'll put those online those will do 10 20 times the number of download of views yeah of the downloads correct of listeners and so we're we're always trying to beat our social

So beat or improve our social numbers. Listenership as well. I mean, that's a steady growth. But I think one thing Jordan and I love and we're good at is the social media, taking mean girl, giving it a personality online. Okay. And then those clips. Okay.

So what was, do you think, like the lowest downloaded episode you ever saw? And what was the highest downloaded episode you ever saw? She's going to kill me. I'm not really a number person in that regard. We started with office drama. Okay. So our first month had a spike. Then we dipped for about three months and had to really go find ourselves.

I mean, we were on the floor. And we had to say, okay, what do we want Mean Girl Pod to be? And can we make it a relationship lifestyle podcasting? Can we carry that? So we dipped for the, we dipped. And then last summer, we skyrocketed, so to speak. I couldn't even tell you the most, I couldn't get close. What do you think caught?

Like if you look at the business. but why do you think you dipped in those three months? Well, we didn't have any true north. Got it. We had to have that dip to find who we wanted to be. We didn't know each other hardly. Yeah. We wanted to get outside of office drama and started talking about ourselves.

Okay. Had no idea how to do it. So it's the best thing that ever happened to us. Yeah. Okay. Got it. Do you have any idea as far as like your podcast compared to other barstool podcasts, how it performs?

So they used to send out rankings where they'd be like you're number seven. Yeah. But then we don't get those anymore. So we used to know in relation how they were, but they've been doing some. restructuring, canceling some podcasts, putting more into others. So I think that's why those metrics have stopped. Because half the office moving to Chicago, like there's some restructuring happening right now, which is really exciting. But we've stopped getting that data. Yeah, like how do you

know if it's on the right track? Well, I also had to stop looking at numbers too. This is a good learning lesson. Because there's a healthy relationship with numbers, I think. And then if something worked on one episode, you might try and chase that carrot, but you never know exactly what it was that worked. Yeah. So if I talk about some fight I had of my best friend and that's, that episode does really well, it's like, well, then maybe we're looking for like another fight or something. And it's like we just wanted to be ourselves.

So a part of me has had to back off those numbers and just say, I got to give it my all. And I look at some, but not a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good. I think, again, like if you're chasing the bag, chasing the money, chasing the number, trying to back into like what went viral or why the episode popped, you're always going to be chasing that and then I'll go back to the rule number one, losing yourself, right? You're losing yourself

because you're trying to chase what you think people are trying to enjoy. And it screws up the whole business. We're like if we're giving effort and we're trying our asses off, then that's good. And usually the numbers will work from there. And we're not afraid to try new things. Like there's been times where we will hear like, okay, your numbers dipped. And we're like, we're not afraid of that. What was it? It's like we were recording in the office more than out of the office. Numbers do better out of the office. Things like that. We'll look at that data, but not so much what we talked about. Gotcha. And one of the things we talked about before the show was the controversy with Kelly Kiggs. Ironically enough, you said you guys are very cordial. She's a friend. Life is good.

But it's that internal controversy that actually increases the business like productivity, right? The numbers. They all go up when you guys are having those type of fights. It's crazy. It's like, Why does everyone want to watch the house that's burning? Like, it's just the name of the game in this world. That's, yeah. Well, that one was funny. That probably did numbers, barstool numbers. And our episode, where we addressed it, did do really well.

Yeah, no, it does work like that. Like, overall, the drama like that is incredible because it's people just like, it's like a reality TV show, but 24-7. Sure. It's on Twitter. I mean, it's incredible. Everyone's ripping. It's crazy.

They're going off. It can happen in real time. Yeah. it's honestly incredible let me ask you about this we've had chicks in the office and they had a really unique take on negotiating they go in together with dave and they say this is our erika whoever it is that they report to and they said like this is what we want and it's they know exactly what each other makes and they're they felt like they're both incentivized they don't have bad blood because of it do you and jordan do that do you have an idea of what other people in the office make i have no

I do what anybody else in the office makes. Okay. Jordan and I make the exact same thing and we know that. Oh, so that's good. It's great. That's the same, yeah. We, yeah, so we have very open conversations about that. What's different about her and I is I'm up for negotiation right now.

She's not for two more months because we weren't hired to do mean girl together. Got it. So I was hired and she doesn't have the option on hers. Like I got hired me and my mom. She got hired two months later off of a TikTok. She won a contest. Okay. So we, our contracts weren't the,

same. Our renewal period's not the same and we weren't hired to do what we're doing now. That's why we're like, there's nobody that has like a blueprint ahead of us. Yeah. I'm like, we don't even know what to do. Yeah. How do you do it? Yeah. But you suspect that you'll be paid the same then on your renegotiation. Yeah. Okay. So you guys will move in locks. We talk about it all the time. Yeah. But I just hit a point where I'm like, I don't know. I'll just let you know when I get the contract. Okay. Got it. Now, you're crushing it on all forms of social media. With the exclusivity, do they own your social? Like, do they own your name? image likeness? Not our personals, right? Okay. Right? You got to look into that. I know. I'm like,

I don't think so. That's a big name right there moving in the right direction. I think that I own my personals. And they own the brands. Yes. Okay. So they own mean girl and then I have Alex. Yeah. Okay. So everything Alex. I'm going to check. You think you. Here we go. I'm like, I would have signed it if they were like, we own everything and you owe us money when you leave. Like I would assign that contract. Okay. Well, that's good to know. Of all the platforms, if people, are out there trying to build their business or build their brand. Do you have one that you think is like blowing up the fastest or one that people should pay the most attention to?

Well, I'm an, I love Instagram. I now I think over like everything, TikTok everything. Over all of it, yes, because I think that, why do I think that? I think you can grow fast on TikTok. But I think something about Instagram houses everything in one spot. and I think the people on there I don't I I think you grow slower on Instagram than TikTok traditionally

especially right over the gates totally but I think that the slow growth is better long term on there but I'm a little older than like okay so Jin Z is probably all TikTok and their brains work that way so I like I like to consume things on Instagram I understand Instagram and I get to know somebody on Instagram they'll establish my loyalty I would buy something

XYZ, Instagram. So that's why I say it because of an overall aspect. Sure. But if you're just starting out, depending on what you're doing, I do think TikTok is a really great spot. Yeah. I think you'll grow faster on TikTok, but I think like curating a community is going to be more effective on Instagram, on Instagram, right? Like, yeah, you'll get more clicks and everything like that. Yeah. I've never forget. Our producer said when Mean Girl TikTok in the first like six months was at like 200 something. But when we hit 100K on Instagram, she said, that's the golden nugget. That's the stamp you want right there. Okay.

YouTube subs is incredible, too. I mean, they literally send you up a plaque. Huge, yeah. But Instagram, that's the gold standard. What are some other, like, business, like strategies that you hear behind the scenes at Barstool, that, like, producers and people are talking about as far as it relates to, like, growing their business or doing things differently or staying up on trends? Like, what are some of those conversations happening in the think tank?

Well, the best thing I've ever heard, it's not exactly a strategy, but silence is feedback. So if people are saying nothing, our producers tell us that. If you really go check the comments, if there are none, you want people to feel hate or love, but not nothing. Interesting. And that stuck with me a lot. So if they hate you, if they are chirping the shit out of you, producers like, great. That's a view. That's a comment.

That's great for the algorithm. So that's, some of my friends will be like, oh, my God, I hate. And I'm like, perfect. So the comments don't bother you. Not one bit. It's really hard for a comment to bother me. That is so rare in this space. A text from a friend back at home could get me.

But the random comments. No. The more the merrier. The more than, truly, I would rather, I'll just look at the number of comments, not what they say. That is such a good perspective. So that, you know, because people are feeling something towards you, so that's good. But would you say that, would you agree that most of your peers probably don't feel that way or no? I would say most probably don't.

Yeah. Yeah, probably not. Because it's easier said than done, I think, like with the whole comments thing. But it makes sense. Ten good ones, one bad. You read the bad. Yep. Always true.

But in your world, it's 11 comments. Correct. That's a good thing right there. One thing I want to ask you about is when your TikToks go viral, you actually applied to Barstool, correct? Mm-hmm. So I think for people that are stuck in their career, they get paralyzed with what's next. How did you find the contact information?

What was the application process like? There are hundreds of thousands of people that are trying to. get in front of the face of Dave Portnoy, you did it in such a short period of time. What was like the trading secret to do that? I upgraded to LinkedIn premium for a month and I just typed- Best investment anyone can make. Best investment ever. I deleted it immediately after because I just not very good at LinkedIn, but I pulled

everybody business side, anybody with a bar stool email. Okay. And I emailed them. And then I started guessing based off of what those emails were. Would you email them? A video. I made a pitch video. Okay.

The number one rule of a video, capture someone's attention in the first three seconds. But on this one, I wanted the first 10 seconds to capture them. I sent it to probably 20, 30 barstool emails that were on LinkedIn business people. And then I would find Instagrams and I would find if they had an email link to it. Hustle it. But just like, because I was like, why not? Yeah. And somebody forwarded it to gas.

I want to say I got lucky, but I also, I can't decide if I believe in luck or not. Yeah. I do think effort is highly correlated with it. People will be like, how do I get a job there? And I'm like, find every single person's email. My email is on my Instagram. Right. Totally. Well, and without LinkedIn premium, a lot of people can't do that. So I think like you found a tool. You invested in the tool. You then hit up 30 people. Of the 30 people, how many respond? One. Right. So you weren't afraid of rejection. All right. First 10 seconds, how'd you capture their attention? I have the video. What did I say? Yeah. Something like, I think you guys need another Alex because she was so, she had just left. I mean, it was everything everyone was talking about. I definitely said Alex, long, blonde hair, and then I definitely pulled my mom in in the first 10 seconds.

And that's what it was. Something about that. Okay, I love it. You want something, go get it. Email every person you know, have a good hook statement in the first three to 10 seconds and just let the rest fall into place where it should. Well, like, do you ever go to your DMs and there are certain ones you'll open? Yeah.

And it's like, why did I open that? Yeah. It's, I always think, too, if you're going to DM somebody, cold DM them. I'm always like, don't say high exclamation point because everyone said that. Yeah, no, yeah. Say something like really catchy. Yeah, impactful, something that's meaningful or something that adds value. Yes.

Like, hey, this would be a good idea. I saw your show. I saw you do this. This would be a really good thing. Then you'll get their attention. And you have to start it because you can only see when you're picking which one. Just real quick, like the first six words. Yep. Yes. And I'll go through and I'm like, I'm opening that one.

Yeah, fire away. 30 emails, here you are. Two years later, renegotiating your deal for 20% or more. That's what we're going for. And the recap, guys, we'll tell you what it is. I have a couple rapid fire questions for as it relates to money. Okay. Ready? Yep. Okay. What, from an annual income perspective, what is like your eyes on the prize? I'm going to really do a nice celebration when I make this dollar about. $750, I would celebrate. Okay. How we celebrate? probably I you know I always wanted to charter a plane yeah and say I chartered that like that I don't know why I just wanted I wanted people to get on it maybe like me I paid this was me everyone that walks down here say the fuel bill I'm paying for okay there you go 750 is the goal we're going to have you back when

you make that 750 done and done what is the worst investment you've ever made the worst investment I've ever made was I wanted to make these sarcutory trays okay back when I wanted to be an entrepreneur were and I didn't understand that you needed to solve a problem in the industry. So I made my dad this pitch. I was like, I want to make these charcutory trays. Because they were, they're all the, you know, they were all the rate back. Still are. But they were different colors and you could connect them. And so it could be three feet or like one foot wide. Okay. And, you know, bridal showers, anything. And so I spent my, a lot of my savings at the time in a factory in China and got back the pieces and none of it fit. And I just messed it off. And I just messed up.

all up. And so that was the worst investment because I lost all of it. How much? 33,000, I think. Oh, gosh. 33K. Okay. Best investment you ever made. Best investment I ever made was, I mean, for real. Well, it's not an investment. Did it something I have to put money that I got a return on?

It could be my return or it could just be something else. I, when I turned 18, my dad. The answer might be LinkedIn premium. Well, the answer is going to be only fans because you would not believe if you can get over what people really think about that. I did it for boxing when I trained. Are you on it right now? Yeah, I'm still,

so when I trained for Rough and Rowdy, which is Barstle's boxing match, I got on there and I was like, I should put a pay gate behind some of this, like, training content. I did that. I made a lot of money. And then still today,

I'll go on there and check because people are just subscribed. Yeah. And it's like $4.99. So it rolls over each month. I don't post on it anymore, but I still get it. So that was a phenomenal.

Do you have to pay any of that to Barstle? No. So you're only, so you do own your name and image and likeness. Dave had Jordan and I on the Dave Portnoy show at the time. And he was like, explain this to me. And we were like, we're making a lot of money on OnlyFans. And he was like, okay.

And he's very candid, obviously. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. And he was like, I think go get the bag. But if you keep making this much, are you guys going to want to work as hard? Yeah. And so we really talked through that. It had a shelf life, so we don't even have to deal with it anymore

because we're both like off of it. But it's still, that's an incredible messment. Best month you ever had on OnlyFans. How much I made? Yeah. I think 17,000? Damn. Just posting boxing videos?

Because people are so. curious when you post, I've got an only fans, they can't, they'll subscribe. Because they're just want to see it all. They just want to know. They're just thinking, they're thinking there's more to this stuff. What is she posting? Yeah. There was a girl that came on here from Big Brother and she posted just pictures of herself with different oscillating fans. That was her only fans, just different fans. And she was made her, I think what was her goal? She wanted to make a half million, right? And she surpassed. She said, I'm going to come back on the show and I make a half million. She surpassed a half million. Just pictures of her and an actual turning fan. People are so, people are. People

Well, people don't, they think only fans, I think nude photos. Of course. But it's like, you can put anything behind a pay gate. That's a good trading secret. That's a great one. It's literally just a subscription. Think outside the box. Think outside the box.

Like, you put anything on there. That could get you to your $750 real quick. And you could be on a charter jet in a year from now. Going to Vegas, every person saying, Alex Bennett, this is your fucking jet. Thank you. I've always thought, like, why don't we just type something, you know, like a story? Just put it on there and be like, if you guys want to read it, it's $5.99. There you go.

I like it. All right. That is Alex Bennett here. All right, Alex, you got to leave us one trading secret. So it's a lesson. It could be about money, life, career. Can't get from a professor, can't Google, can't YouTube it, can only get it from your work and career experience.

What can you leave us with? Well, I love Sam Presti. Scared Money, don't make none, but I can't say that because he said it. So if it has to come from me, this was what I learned during Rough and Rowdy, but do it scared, which is saying, if somebody said to you, this is going to suck, it's going to be hard. it's going to be hard, it's going to hurt, but it's going to be the best thing you ever did, still saying, okay, sign me up, doing it scared. Okay, so do it, do it, scared. That is your trading secret, rough and rowdy.

I didn't see the match. We'll talk about in the recap, David and I will have to watch it. Did you win? Yeah, all three rounds. Really? Did you know boxing is the only sport, though, that you don't know if you're winning or losing during it? No, I didn't know that. The only sport. So you had no idea? I mean, I didn't know, but I wasn't going to be looking this girl's ass? No. I mean, I felt it, but they could be seeing something different, the judges. would you get back in the boxing ring? Yes, I think about it sometimes.

Okay, if there's one person that you would take down and you think you'd sell the most tickets, who would it be against? Somebody that I don't know. I can't hit somebody I know. I need to be somebody random. Oh, really? That I really start to... Do you know Alex Cooper?

Well, no. I think that would be a good match. I was going to say, but I know enough about her. I'm like, I can't... Because it's hard to hit somebody. Yes. So I got lucky. All right.

And I think, imagine if that Only fans, you and Alex Cooper, training at Only fans, boxing, boxing, selling tickets. Alex Bennett. 7.50. Thank you for being on trading secrets. Thank you so much for having me, Jason. For anybody that wants a little more Alex Bennett in their life, where can they find everything you have going on?

At Just Alex Bennett. Like, I should have never done the Just, but the Just is actually part of it. At Just Alex Bennett on all platforms. Boom. Alex Bennett. Thank you for being on Trading Secrets. Okay, this is an unprecedented episode. We have never done it before on Trading Secrets.

Alex Bennett before and after. It's like one of those infomercials. You get to see it before the product comes. out and then the after. You guys just listened all about Alex's career at Barstool before Barstool and her going in to her new, big contract negotiations. She had some pretty lofty goals with that negotiation. What we were going to do was we were going to connect with Alex. And in the recap, we're going to tell you where it stood. But there was such a wild detour that we actually had to bring Alex back. So Alex, for the first time ever in one episode,

Welcome back to Trading Secrets. Thank you. The drama that you just sold. How do you feel? I feel great. I'll be honest. I feel like I'm looking at like a before and after. It's like a different humor.

I was going to say I feel like an entirely different person. You feel lighter. You feel more focused. Oh, by lighter, I don't mean like size. I meant like your energy feels lighter. I was thinking because I got a spray tan. I was like I look tanner. You feel like you're at.

You're more focused. I feel like you're more disciplined. How are you feeling? I feel all of those things. I feel like this is who I want to be. And the first person was like existing. Yeah. And I cleared the baggage.

Not that it was baggage, but I focused and I made some moves that made me really uncomfortable. And I like where I landed. Okay. We're going to get into those moves. They just listened. All the listeners just listened to everything that you had to say months ago. Do you think when you listened to it back, were you at all speaking in different tones,

lights, directions, knowing that you were a barstool employee going into your contract negotiation? do you feel more free now to talk about anything you want, how you want? Or then did you feel somewhat restricted? I think I felt a little restricted than yes. Okay. But I also think I was confused as well. So I was tailoring it to, I knew that there was two, three possible paths ahead. Okay.

And I didn't know how those were going to land. So more so confused and a bit restricted, yeah, because I didn't want to say something on there. And then I ended up in a totally different spot. Sure. And so I was, I kind of gave you some PR answers. Yeah. Okay. Well, we got some PR answers.

We're not going to have PR answers here. So you had three paths forward going into the contract negotiation. What were those? I didn't want to say I might renew. I also might leave. I also might start my own thing. And then I renew. And it comes out and Barstow's like, so this.

What thing are you starting? Right. This girl thought about, you know, so that's what you were getting. So those were the three paths. Okay. I would renew at Barstool and I would stay there. I would go to another network or I would start my own. So you went into negotiation.

and you knew, I believe, it was 20% you wanted to get an increase. You asked for that. What happened? So at the time when you interviewed me, Penn still owned Barstool. Yes. Then Dave bought it back, right? Yeah. So everything changed when that happened.

Or did they give it back? Well, it was a dollar. Yeah. So we bought it. Yeah. Okay. For the, yeah. So.

We'll talk about that in recap. How do you want to tell me how you feel about that? Yeah, you do that job. We'll do that in the recap. So when Penn owned it, my head was in a very different space and we were negotiating with Erica. And we were talking about much larger pictures than just Mean Girl Pot, right? Okay. So I had spent my whole last year doing like PBR, NASCAR, things like that,

making myself more profitable from a barstool standpoint of how they could sell me. Okay. Got it. We had that deal with her, not written on paper, but we were talking numbers and I was going to far exceed the 20% increase. So that, so what you wanted was definitely coming back your way. 100, yeah. Okay. That was coming.

Okay. So you know what you want. Do you get the offer? Do you receive the contract from Erica? No. Why? Because she started delaying. Okay.

And then she told us. She said, hey, this is going to take some time. And you'll understand why one day. But she didn't tell you about the pen deal. No. Okay. They didn't tell anybody. Okay.

So she, because they were in the middle of working on it. Okay. So she was like, listen, it's going to look like I'm dragging this out for three to four weeks, but I'm not. So just hold your horses, but we need to figure some things out on the back end. Okay. But all the while, she was having conversations with my agents, and they had gotten to a range of numbers that was like double, if not. Double? If not more, yeah.

Okay. Are you against telling us what you were making before the negotiation? No, actually, I'm not. How much were you making before the negotiation? I want you to guess. Okay. You're working how many hours a week, 40? Well, and here goes the comments. She never went in the office, so too. But how many do you think?

40. Okay. So you're supposed to be working 40. That's a PR answer. And you have to do one podcast a week? Yep. Okay. We run all of our own socials.

Okay. We're the only brand that was doing that. All right. I'm going to take a shot in dark. You were making a hundred grand. Okay, 110. And I was going to fucking sit 110. Damn it.

I was right there and I peeled it back. It was, yeah. Shit. So, and the thing about that is, Actually, I was brought in at 150, and I gave 40,000 of that to my mom because we were hired together. Okay. So they gave you 150, though, without any platform, any background, just a good, good interview. Correct.

A 10-minute interview. With nothing. You had no brand or anything. Nothing. To me, I'm impressed by that. I think they could have got you cheaper. They could have gone me for any number. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I'm shocked. Now, here's where in the interview process, I don't know, Dave said, Email me a two-year deal. Okay. Like your salary for two years. You talked about this. Yeah. But tell me not what you're worth now, what you will be worth.

Okay. Okay. So I was like 150 and then my mom's like, I'm getting hired too. And I was like, I can't really like, okay, fine. So did he negotiate with you? Did he just give you the 150? Emailed back and said, sounds good. We'll sign you on.

Okay. So you get the 150. You do the two years. You're ready to renegotiate. What did you expect the offer to be? 300? No. No, really?

Just very transparently speaking. Yeah. At the time, I wasn't fully like, fending for myself. Okay. So I would do the job at, there was a range there of like 40% that I would have done this job because I was married at the time. So I wasn't like a single income.

Like my thought process now and when Dave called me is entirely different than at that point. So what I was expecting there was 20% more I would have absolutely 100%. Okay. But you're drop, you weren't like, I need 300. You're like, listen, I'm in a good spot. I'm fine. Just give me 20% more good.

That's where your head was. I'm really, and I'm really, I'm, I'm, I'm, Money for me is important, right? But at this goal, I can think a lot more long-term than, like, what this paycheck will be. Okay. So you have an idea of what you want. You think you're going to get the offer. You don't get the offer.

How do they communicate that to you? Well, I don't get the offer. And then, like, I don't have it yet. And then Penn buys it back and the news drops. Okay. And then I believe, I don't want to be quoted here. This is just me trying to remember. Erica.

Well, it's, well, it's. It's quoted because it's recorded. Gotcha. Got him. Trading secrets. I think I would know that. Take this with a grain of salt. But I believe the way it went down was, I think Erica was like, now you understand why you

didn't get it. Oh, and my agent's text to me. And they were like, okay, now everything makes sense. We'll pick this back up negotiations. Two weeks later on a Sunday, Dave calls me. I'm like, what's up? He says a couple things. Dave and Erica knew in my personal life, I was barely functioning at this point.

Sure. So I'm pretty just like existing kind of. Yeah. And they both knew that. And they both were unbelievably supportive. That's awesome. They were incredible about that. Amazing.

So he calls me and he's like, listen, I understand what you're going through and what's happening. Right. Yeah. And he's like, but I also have to say, you guys have stopped coming in as much. Yeah. Now the new person that's going to run these negotiations. I want everyone to come back in the office and I very much don't want to revamp the

barstool was, the inner office stuff. seems extremely fair. Such a fair. The most fair thing. Like, hey, just show up to work. Yeah, and like you get to pick how you want to run it. But when, so when we weren't coming in, we were having very candid conversations with Gaz and Erica about why that was.

And our numbers were actually growing. Okay. Because our demographic isn't the stoolies. Gotcha. So we do really well out of the office. And Dave always said, when he hired me, he said, I don't care if you come in or not. Get your stuff done because you might be a brand that. exists really well outside. So if Jordan and I go run around the city, if we travel,

our content was better. What about chicks in the office? They probably have a very similar ship as far as demographic, right? Yes, but we also skewed just like lifestyle. Like we'll get a lot more of like the relationship talk. Okay. Gotcha. Where they're more of pop culture. Okay. Right. So there's the argument he says you got to come back in the office. You guys say what? We say, all right. The thing about it is, and he more so to me is like Alex, you fought in rough and Rowdy. You've been in the mud a lot up here. And I loved that aspect of it. And when the Kelly Kieg's

article happened, he was like, that because the way me and girl started was Dave and I got in an argument. And he says in it, like, you are just a hell of an arguer. And so when Kelly gives us that, which it was a fabulous in the barstool world, that's a really fabulous setup that you can take

and just like getting a war with her. Yeah. And everyone's watching. Everyone's watching and that's how barstool's barstool. Yeah. But I'm sitting there thinking in five years, where do I want to be. I don't want a paper trail of this Twitter war I could go get in. Okay.

So I was starting to realize that. Okay. I was like, this isn't feeling like, so when I have this talk with him on Sunday, he's like, you've got to come back in the office and say, hey, listen, I'm not so sure that's a fit for me now. Interesting. And Jordan also, I knew was aligned with me on this of like,

we want to do things a little bit differently. Like we found what lights us on fire isn't that. So we like the podcast side of things. We like the brands. We like doing the content. but not not getting in there like getting in a fight with Kirk and stuff how did he respond to that okay you know he is okay and I said and I said listen more so me like I could come back in and I could do that there's a world where I could do that and I think I could light that on fire I really

have to do a gut check here yeah because that's a lot safer for me okay then he says your numbers are down and so I'm going to renew you he said something along the lines of like this conversation three to six months ago goes very different. Because we were... Crescentate. Yeah. So he says your numbers are down. So I'm... The offer is, I'm just... I got to ask. Numbers down means what? 10%, 5%, 20%, 50%, 50%. He just knows the numbers aren't the same. He just knows the numbers aren't the same. And I'm like, well, I don't look at the numbers. I'm not the numbers girl. I literally go, are they? And he was like, yeah. And I'm like, no shit, how far? And he's like, I don't know, just know they're down. And I'm like, huh? And I'm like, huh?

Huh. Weird. Haven't noticed. Jordan's a numbers person. Okay. So I call her and I'm like, hey, our numbers are down. She's like, no, they're not. And I'm like, well, what are they? She's like, we've just had three of our largest episodes. Yeah. And I'm like, I don't know. So she goes in and talks to him and shows them the numbers. Okay. And he's like, no way. And then they ran like a, they ran, they did a overall bar stool, top performing podcasts.

Sure, sure. We were eight or nine on that. Okay. Out of everyone. How many are there? 50? 55, maybe. I think that's pretty good. It's good when our numbers weren't necessary. We had a weird year like this. So that was good.

Okay. Our floor was pretty sturdy. Okay. So eight or nine, he says your numbers are down. Jordan goes back and says, your numbers are fine. Then what happens, though? So, like, where do we go from here? It's very much a conversation of like, we want you guys to start coming back in.

Okay. And that's the new way we do things. And he's like, you guys could probably have your IP. like I want this to work out for everybody but like one of the biggest things here that we're staring at is like you two need to come back in the office and so that's where the rubber met the road

that's where it starts to so then we have then we go on barstool radio and it's Dave's KFC and all them they're like you guys got to start coming back in and we're like but do you understand how we feel about that after the Kelly thing? Yeah. And what we look at and we were very honest with all of them. So you guys like the Kelly thing

though is it because you don't want another issue of drama? Or do you not like Kelly? No, I love Kelly, and I think the way she wrote that article was really good. Yeah. It was perfect for the barstool method. Yeah. I was also, and I explained this to him, at the time that article was written, like, leveled.

You're demolished. In every other area of life. So I'm like, come on, Alex, but I got nothing, right? Got it. So I just kind of, instead of responding to that, let that just. So you're going through the divorce. You're dealing with this shit. you're getting shit on by the public, and you're like, listen, I have a new boundary.

I'm going to do this job. I'm going to kick ass at this job. But I don't want to be in the middle of all this shit in the office. We'll do our own thing. Yeah, and we never missed an episode. We hit, I mean, no metric ever changed. Yeah, yeah. And he asked me that, how are you guys doing the job?

I said the exact same, just not coming in there as much. Honestly, debatably better. And we're talking to Gaz and Eric. We're fully transparent with everybody, what we're doing and why we're doing it. And he was like, I get that. But you got to come in the office. So then we have a very candid conversation of, like, why we might not want to come in. Yeah.

And they, he was like, I get that. Okay. Then. Like, ETSD. Yeah. She's going back. She's like, no. I'm like, well, I'm like, that part's probably not that.

Dave and I have a very open line of communication, very direct. So there was some things I did and he would text, he texted me and he references it on KFC radio. And he's like, I sent her a really mean text. And he's like, how the fuck are you promoting the rodeo app that was like a Times Square post? And he's like, but you haven't posted anything for Barstool. And I was like, but then I went, I came back and I said, that was a mean girl ad in Times Square, which is good for everybody. And they've always supported us just as we've supported them.

They're a startup. I know the founder. That was mutually beneficial. Okay. Didn't reply. I think we were good there to wash. Okay. Then KFC says, hey, do you girls want to judge the only fans contest?

Okay. We say yes. Absolutely. We'll be there. Monday, four o'clock. Four o'clock rolls around. And right now, you're still operating. Your other contract has not expired.

Well, I'm at Will at this point. Okay. We're dragging it. Got it. So he says, all right, will you judge the only fans contest? Yes, we will. Monday, 4 o'clock-ish. And he texts us Monday at 4.

We're not there. We were at the office that day and we made the decision to leave. That's on us. And that was a really bad way to handle it. You made the decision to leave the company or to leave the office that day? To leave the office that day. And you didn't tell them. No.

So. Why did you do that? I can't even with this because if I hear somebody say this I want to say shut the fuck up you're lying I can't even say it I mean I had food poisoning

and I just want to kill I know I hate me like I'm like bullshit the only saving grace I have you truly had then why did Jordan stay so the only saving grace I have is share food poisoning that morning I did Instagram

down bad with like a thing of saltines I had to go in the office for an interview and luckily I was carrying a box of saltines around like I did look like I could just show, like, so now, though, the lower brain, could I have judged the only fans contest? Yeah, of course.

I could have 100%. And I damn sure could have responded to KFC's text when he said it's time, let's roll. And you didn't. I didn't respond. It seems to someone that's not involved in this at all. It seems very intentional. It's, you didn't respond. You guys were on your way out.

And as Dave should have the next day, I get out of shower, I see Ms. Call. Dave, text says, call me immediately. I call him. And he's like, did you ghost? Kevin? And I said in so many words, yes, absolutely. And he's like, I'm getting stressed. And I was like, Alex. And I'm like, yep. And he's like, what would you do now if you're me? And I'm like, oh, I know. I know what you're doing now. And he was like, yeah, you don't have the option anymore. And I was like, do I have the IP? And he's like, I'm really close to actually not giving it to you now. Why are you playing such hardball? What are you getting out of it? I wasn't playing hardball. I wasn't facing it. it. Like I just, I wasn't addressing it. Yeah. I was really scared to leave. Yeah. My body, my body, my brain wanted to leave. Yeah. But I was scared to death to leave. Yeah. So I just kind of went mute on the whole situation. And I'm really. So you were, it wasn't like an intentional,

fuck you guys. It was like, I'm just like not even in a mental, healthy place to address this. Like, I don't even know how to, like you're paralyzed almost by at all. It was the furthest thing from a fuck you. Like, what Dave did for me. Yeah. And what I think of him. Yeah. Is far bigger. than anything I could ever dream of. KFC was like a mentor to me while I was there. Like all those guys, even during the toughest times, like Dave would always text me. When the Kelly article was written, he texted me and he said,

never saw, like don't stop doing what you're doing. Like you guys are doing it perfectly if this is happening. Yeah. He was in our corner and he truly wanted us to succeed. Yeah. So, no, I felt like shit about it. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think people probably back at home have situations. at work where people might perceive it as like you're totally giving me the fuck you. You're totally like putting me in a tough spot. But really it's just they're in a really hard spot and don't even know how to react. They're just like stuck. I've been there before. I've been there with work stuff when I was in the corporate banking world. So yeah, that's hard. And I'm sure looking back on it, do you have any regrets with how you handled it or no? Like would you have done it different or do you have empathy for like that you just weren't in a good place mentally? I have empathy that I wasn't in a good place mentally

Like I did And he knew and he was very nice about this But two weeks before that I'm off the grid I had to go somewhere like I was mentally like that bad And he knew that And he was like listen I understand that

And I said yeah but I also Have the wherewithal And the respect for you That I can communicate this differently Yeah I could do that Yeah But I'm just telling you like And I think I said this time

I'm frozen I'm frozen paralyzed. Yeah. So I feel for the position you're in, but I also, from everything you've said, it feels like Dave, Portnoy was so, like, realistic and real and fair. And even like, even like consider it like, Alex, what am I supposed to do here? Right. He was all of those things. Yeah. And he was also very Dave about it. Okay. In the sense of like, Alex, you just don't have the option anymore. Yeah. And it's like, of course I don't. Yeah. How on earth could I possibly still? And the respect I gained for him was, I already had a ton, and it was next level.

Yeah. So you guys depart ways, would you say it was amicable? Very. Okay, so it's amicable, and he gives you the IP. Yes, he says, he does say, though, if I feel like I'm being disrespected, you're not getting the IP. Fair. So fair. He was fair.

He doesn't do one move that's not fair. But you already have, do you have the IP now? Yes, now I have it. So you legally have it? Yes. So when he says, feel like he's being disrespected, didn't he mean in like future perpetuity or was he talking about like? No, I don't have the IP at the time of the phone call.

Got it. That's where he says. Don't disrespect me. You'll get the IPP. Yeah, he says, I can't tell. Like you kind of couldn't tell either. Like, are you sending a fuck you or not? And I know we're friends.

Like I, it felt like that was like kind of like a fuck you. But now that you've explained it, especially like being someone who just went through a. tough breakup, your reaction, the way you react to things, people thinking logically, not emotionally, are going to perceive it so much different than the reality of like what you're actually experiencing. Right. Right. And that's what it feels like it was. Yes. I think earlier, like I said, when he said, you don't have a choice anymore. And then I said, but do I have the IP? Yeah. I skipped a very large part there. Yeah. Which was where I was like walking around, I sat down with him. And I'm like,

all right, I don't blame you. Yeah. And you actually just did me a favor because you made decision for me. Yeah. Yeah. And at that moment, too, I felt a sense of relief of like it's done. A little part of me knew what I wanted to do, but I was scared to do it. Got it. Okay. So he does, so that happens and that's just a blessing on the side. Sure. But I sit down and I say, Dave, I just want you to know from me to you what you did for me, what I think of you, what Barstle taught me and where I'm at right now. That's awesome. And so we had that talk and he's like, I get it. Good. And he says, too, I'll always be there. That's amazing. Not in this instance anymore as your boss. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're the worst employee I've ever got. So, like, fuck you for that, Alex. And then he's like, but I'm here. And I was like, oh, God. See, when I heard about this, I was thinking, I want to like be bad at Dave for it. Or like, what's the story? Like, how do I have your back, Alex? But like, no, like, I get, it just seems like it was, it was time.

It didn't work out. You were going through a lot. And here you got your IP. Now you got your IP. You leave Barstool. You leave the $150,000 package. And then you say, I'm going to start not only my own podcast, I'm going to start my own media group.

The renewal was at 110. The renewal is at 110. Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. Well, what was your original offer? Well, it's 150, but I had them break it apart from my mom. So I'm, oh, renewal was 110.

Okay. Clarifying that. Then you go and start just media groups. So now you have no salary. You have your IP and you say, I'm going to start a media group, not just like, launch a podcast. Let's make some money. Let's make up for the one. Ted. Talk to me about that. So I call him back, Dave back, 10 minutes later. Like, I hang up the phone.

I had been building my deck in the background a little bit of what this could look like. And I was like, took a second. And I was like, all right. And I called him back. I said, hey, if you keep the IP, you make nothing. If I take the IP, you make nothing. But I think I'm going to set up a media company. If you invest in that media company, then you now have a free and clear investment in something, which you know is profitable. because he knows the mean girl numbers. Sure. And he was like, what the fuck? And I was like, well...

You get you playing a game of fucking chess. But I thought, and I thought about it. I'm like, if I take it, it's not good for... And then if he invests in this, I think that's great news for everybody. And he was like, I don't... You're insane. And he was like...

You want me to invest in a competitor. Yeah, he was like, I mean, I think you guys will actually be like, great at ad sales. Like, he was like, I think that, but no. And I was like, okay, well, at least you know, at least you now know,

and at least I asked. You swing, girl. If there's one, we might call this episode, Alex Bennett Swings. I was just like, well, as well, worst thing you can say is no. Yeah. So then I take the podcast, right? And I'm thinking about, I learn about the podcast industry, right? Spotify, Dear Media, like all of those places and how we do, how we structure Rev shares

and things like that. And I think Barstow's a flat organization in the best way that you have direct access to Dave. You have it to the ad sales team. we ran our own social so we understood what those were making we were looking at those numbers do you know all in Mean Girls Pod what annual revenue was doing

before you left around I know it was slotted to make 650 on last year and by that's a lot I know that's a lot

that's good you're like nah I was like shit what were the like download numbers around they would be like around 100 okay that makes sense yeah that checked Okay.

Oh, so you were hitting like 3040? It's legit. So what are the downloads on that? Oh, wait, so people listen to YouTube? I don't know why either, but let me have that one, you know? You got that. Give me anything. Okay, so he passes 650.

Talk to me. So then I'm like, oh, so I start running the numbers on, well, what's that cost to build? To run, what's a producer cost? What do we got to do here? And I'm like, well, that's not that far away. And then I'm like, oh, my God. what if we did like multiple times? Yeah.

Then we're looking at that, that business model could work. Yeah. So then I thought, well, I don't want to go to a network. And here's why I didn't want to go to a network. Okay. At the time, our number, the past month, our number were down. But you were in a, I mean, you're in hell and back. You weren't focused.

That wasn't focused at all. Yeah. And I knew, actually, I knew our first four episodes would be bangers. Okay. If I thought about. Talked about your divorce and everything else. Not that I want to monetize off of that, but I thought. Well, it's your life.

monetized off your life. Well, and I had monetized, I had, actually, Graham. Yeah. Made the best point to me ever. You talked about all the good. So you're going to, you're going to stop at the bad. Like, you're going to, he's like, don't do that to me. And I'm like, right.

And he's like, you know, so I trust you with that narrative. And I was like, okay, so I knew that, I know, right, kudos to him. Yeah, Graham's the best. So I had that. Okay. And I knew, I knew wherever we went based off our numbers, we would make less than what we would be worth. Yes. I mean, that's the model, right?

Correct. Did you get any offers? Yeah, we got three offers, basically. Okay. Were they all rev splits? All revs splits? No minimum guarantees. One minimum guarantee, but before we even finished it,

did I just say, like, these calls are starting to waste our time, and we have our first investor, so we're off. Okay. Minimum guarantee was less than you were making at Barstool? More. 150. Okay, 150. So Barstle doesn't let you take outside deals on your socials.

Correct. So the problem with this was they were going to own, we weren't going to be able to do that again. Okay. So that doesn't make sense because, as you probably know, what, and I learned, you can make so much off just selling your social. Oh, yeah. Like it's not close, right?

So that wasn't something after learning that, that I was going to give up. Yeah, for sure. Okay, got it. So then you start the media company. What's your model? Did you raise capital? Dave says no, did you raise capital? Yes.

Okay. How much did you raise? 300 right now. And where'd you get investors? So. Or can you not say? I just called them angels. Okay.

So you have some angels. Let's do this. Give one tip to someone out there right now. They want to raise capital because they have an idea. They don't know where to start. What's the one tip you'd give them? Start with, I feel so weird giving tips because I'm like, okay, I don't know what I would say start with. I'll just tell you what I did.

Yeah. I said at first I thought very formal about it. Okay. And I was like, I got to go to like some VC firms and I got to start doing all these pitches. Oh, I know how I thought about it. I was talking to my brother. And he was like, no, girl, you don't want to mess with those people. And especially you.

Like, you will be a nightmare for them. They'll hate you and you'll send no reports and you can't do that. They also send massive checks. They're doing like $30 million checks. Right. And he's like, go to anybody you can think of, make a list of 25 people that have a bunch of money. Explain this model to them. I'm from Oklahoma.

Go hit that oil market. Right? And just find those people. And so that's what you did. That's what I did. Okay. So can you tell me this? So you raised 300K, how many total angels are there?

Two. Okay, so there's two. So you got two checks for 150? 200, 100. 200, 100. Okay. You're the majority owner. I'm taking on all the risk.

You're taking on all the risk. Did you invest your own capital? No. Okay. So what risk is smart girl? OPM, we had the founder of Netflix on. He said OPM, OPM, OPM. When you start a company, other people's money, don't use your own.

You're taking on time risk. That's what you're taking on, right? Totally. A lot of time and effort. All right. So now you have just media group. What is, how's it going? Like, where are you at with the business right now?

So we are at the model is. Get Mean Girl up and running. Okay. Learn everything there is that we don't know. Yep. So like that you monetize YouTube. Like, all this stuff. How do you sell ads?

Like merch, everything. Right. How are you going to, so learn the infrastructure off this baby right here. Okay. Learned that, got the first four episodes out. You know, where do you record, just all the things you need to figure out. Yeah. legal stuff, X, Y, Z.

Get that up and running and then scale it and go bet big on three to four podcasts. Okay. And then take the model, put it to them, and then scale that. And replicate it. Yep. So you want to have how many podcasts on your network in two years from now? Give me a shot. 25.

25. Do you have any others? No. Like in the works? Four in the works right now. Four in the works. All right. So that's the, so right now it's...

Quite the detour there. It's a big detour. two are there. But I learned a lot. And then I figured out that I had sat in the chair of being the creator. Yeah. And then I was sitting in the other chair. Yeah. So I understood what creators would want. Yeah. And I think I'm making them all like very fair deals. Yeah. Well, that's what we do with our agency. It's the same thing. Right. So it's for talent, run by talent. That's exactly what you're doing. It's a great model. Oh, we're four creators built by creators. Oh, wow. That's awesome. Fucking sharp. I love it. Anything else on Just Media Group we should know about it? No. Not really.

except that it's built around the idea. I think that the industry got like really inflated and everyone does things the same way. Totally. And I think there's this call for just like fairness and that someone's going to have to start thinking differently because it doesn't make sense to go to some of these networks. Yeah.

If you understand the numbers. Yeah. Shout it to the networks. I like do your thing, 21. But for me, I was like, maybe not. And so I think that the way we're thinking about it and the way it's built is very empowering. Yeah.

Can I share the story of you? So Alex, reach out to me just about a potential, like, how much would you pay for this person if you wanted to bring them on type scenario? And how it's like challenging you. I'm like, what are you doing? What are you, why are you paying this person? Why are you taking on that risk? And her exact response is like, I want to do it differently.

We're creating a different model here. So I think that's cool. Year one, Dave takes a loss on us. Yeah. Right? We don't make that one 10. Yeah, yeah. Year two, three, four, five.

He's crushing. Yeah. That's a great bet. But also, if he pays you $150K and you don't return a yield on that, he's now out, 150K, where if it's a red split model and it's 80%, 20%, you only makes money if you make money. So there's less risk. But I need to be competitive right now, right? Because you're getting gritty.

Yeah, I got to get gritty. Like I got to spend money to make money. Okay. Well, Alex, I could talk to you for hours on this stuff, but I have to transition. I know, I have to transition to you already mentioned it. You brought up Graham. Last time we talked, I think you were kind of going through it, as was I. And we both really didn't talk much about it.

But now you've had this public divorce, ex-husband, Graham, whose family notably owns the Oklahoma City Thunder, not a big deal. I got to ask you. Did you sign a pre-no? No. I was given one, but it was not signed. Okay. So you were proposed one? Yes. And you said no. Correct. How'd you pull that off from a billion-dollar family? Well, I got it. A. B swings. A.B. Swings. Only person who's married into a multi-billion-dollar family to sign a pre-duff. The law's good. The law's good enough. Okay. And that should just work.

Okay. So that was your angle. Probably would have fared better if I signed it. Really? Wait, wait a second. Tell me how that works. So then you go through the divorce. How much have attorneys cost you? Did you get an attorney or a mediator? An attorney. Okay. Has that, did he pay for the attorney? you pay for the attorney. That is expensive. That's expensive. I worked for an interior designer who we had a client that was an attorney. We call him the judge because he just, he's done some good cases. He read, he did the pre-up with me. So I texted him and I was like, all right, things are going up. The pre-up that you didn't sign. Correct. Got it. Because you just redlined

that thing. It was like, whoa. I like how you got names for everything. The angels, the judge. The angels, the judge, the documents. And so I texted him and I was like, hey, it's looking like we're going to separate here. And he was like, this should be pretty simple. Like, so I got you. Hmm. So I had no fees. Okay.

So no fees, no pre-num. I think anyone listening right now is like, okay, you married a billionaire. He didn't sign a pre-num. Like, did you just win the lottery? So the law goes, I made more. And so technically, I would owe him. How is it possible? Well, the money isn't like, it's not his money.

It's in a trust. Right. So when you're comparing. Alex and Graham is two humans. That's how it boils down. So all of his wealth is protected in a trust, which would then technically not be his. Right. As a result of that, when you divorce, you're splitting assets and then based on income and his assets are all protected in a vehicle so that they're technically not hit.

And as they should be. And I, I think it's, I'm not, I think it's, yeah. No, but it's really smart. Yeah. And this is why they do that, right? And no part of me thought I was entitled to any of that. Yeah, of course. The only problem was, here was the only problem. I had worked, you know, five years of six-figure jobs. Yeah. And didn't have any of that when it ended.

So what I wanted back, what I asked for back, was I took the total number of the salary, I divided it in a third. And I was like, hey, this would be, this would be nice. So wait, hang on, hang on. Did you pay him? No, we had a wash. So it was a wash. No one got paid.

You didn't, you made $0 on the process. is a being divorced. Correct. I feel like that is never how divorce is end. It's not one way or the other, right? I feel like it never ends in a watch. Not that I know of, but can I say this? You can say anything. Best thing that ever happened to me. I needed that. I didn't know it at the time. I got like very angry actually. And the girl sitting here today, like I'm so glad that it, that it happened that way. Like Alex needed that. The divorce or the way it got the way? All of it. The way the way the The finances ended, all of it. Yeah.

Did you have a joint account or no? Yeah, we had a joint account. Okay, you just split that down the middle? No. I got logged out of that. Couldn't lock into that. Did you have money in there? Yeah.

Did you get that back? No. So it sounds like it wasn't a wash. Not technically. Any trading secrets on a high note you could leave us because you said that. You're so glad you went through that because this Alex is a different Alex. Biggest takeaway from that that we can take back at home if we've, feel stuck, if we feel confused. If we're not sure if we're making the right decision in a place

where it's got to be a hard decision, you did that. What advice would you have? Well, open up a savings account, but really, I think it would be, I was really scared. Yeah. And I think money has, holds like a lot of power and it's like symbolizes safety. Yeah. And there are lots of instances where that's very true and like you can't argue it, right? Yeah. But I think if that's the point a differentiation of like stopping you. If there's something holding you back from what your heart really wants, don't let anything. Like everything is figure outable.

So follow your heart and everything else will fall into place. Follow your heart. Trust your intuition and just do it. It sounds like another way I would theme this entire episode is like do it scared. I think what's so cool is I think you're an inspiration for so many people that are listening to this through what you went through with your relationship, where you are today, how you were in like such, what a dark hole that is to be professionally. and personally, completely lost, but like, find your way out.

Raise capital from an interior designer to raising capital to now starting your own media company. Being the best AB out there, I'm proud of you. I think it's awesome. Thank you, Jason. It is so cool. I can't wait to see what you do from here. And this is the first time ever we had a before and after. So you guys, Money Mafia, let us know what you think about this transition.

I think it's going to be really cool, too, to watch the YouTube back, but we're going to see the before and after and always, like even your energy. everything about it. It's going to be awesome. I was going to say I'm going to watch it because I want to see her. Hell yeah. I want to see her. I want to see her. I like this one better. Me too. I like me so much more. I like you so much more. But I still want to see her. I got to watch her. All right. You gave us a trading secret last episode. We got to get a trading secret from the after Alex Bennett. One trading secret will be anything about life navigation, finances, dealing with breakups, business, anything. Credit scores matter. So don't let those. Don't fuck that up. Let's go.

Did you fuck it up? Yes. No, no. I'm learning. And you got to, death and taxes, got to pay those. Death and taxes, you got to pay those. We might have to have a deeper conversation about that. I just have a book coming out called Talk Money to Me. The first chapter is all about the importance of credit score. I got to read it. You also have to know the credit score of the person you're talking to because in this world, so many people gaslight through assets. They have all these things. They have all this show. They have no dough. And when you see someone's credit report, you get all the answers. There's no gaslighting. So that's my trading secret to you.

Well, my training secret to the next person that I date is don't take Jason's advice. Yes. Because don't look at my credit score. Okay. They're going to make the fuck. Oh, God. Alex, you show me your credit report. You're out the door.

Oh, yeah. 100%. No. I think the big thing, too, on with this. The biggest thing is transparency. The fact that you just own that is so huge. So many Americans don't own it. You'll work on it.

You'll get that score back up. It's the people that hide from it, run from it. see from it. So everything you just did, as always, super healthy. Alex Bennett, thank you for being on another once-in-a-lifetime episode of Trading Secrets. Thank you, Jason. It was a pleasure. The pleasure was mine. Thank you.