Trading Secrets - Craig Conover isn’t following traditional business advice! Southern Charm fan favorite reveals to $ecrets to his major success within reality tv, law, entrepreneurship and relationship.

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

This week, Jason is joined by entrepreneur, lawyer, author, podcast host, and one of Bravo’s fan favorites from its hit reality show, Southern Charm, Craig Conover! Craig reigns as the pillow magnate of Charleston and beyond after starting his own sewing and southern lifestyle brand, which has been well documented on the show. His business has become a huge success via eCommerce and his brick and mortar location in Charleston. In addition to all of his business success, Craig continues his career in law, hosts a podcast, wrote a book, and continuously grows his brand on social media with his professional life.  Craig gives insight on how he manages all of his endeavors, which Real World contestant he connected with when he was asked to be on Southern Charm, why it took him an extra year to be sworn in after passing the bar,  which type of attorney he thinks is the safest option, how Bravo works with his business and how it ties into the show, and how he got out of his own way.  Craig also reveals how the company was originally operating, the first big day for Sewing Down South which prompted the need for inventory, how he has broken the traditional business rules with partnering with Jerry and Amanda, the correlation between when the show is on air and store sales, how law provided an incredible fallback, his first scripted film experience, and his approach to influencing and investing. How does he keep his days organized? Why did he go to law school? What impact does the show have on his business? What other reality show would he do? Craig  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: Craig Conover 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. Welcome to the pre-market trading segment, where I talk a little bit about our guest, something you should know going into the market this week and a little update from my personal life. First and foremost, before I get into our guest, please remember to hit subscribe.

It really helps our show. Give us five stars because in the recap, after the guests, we always give one thing away every episode. If you give us five stars and let us know who you think we should have on the show and your biggest takeaway. But enough of that, our guest is Craig Conover. He is one of the stars of Bravo's Southern Charm. He's also the co-founder and CMO of Sowing Down South. You'll hear a lot about that business. Craig is a good looking six foot three. You'll hear his raspy voice. He might not catch you as a guy that sows, but you'll hear more about that story. And he'll He sells incredible interior home design, accessories, pillows, et cetera.

So that is coming your way. Now, if you haven't seen Southern Charm, maybe you're familiar with Craig from Instagram, social media, or his girlfriend who is also a star of a big Bravo show, Summerhouse. Now, if you're just not a big Bravo person, that's okay because we don't really get that much into the show. We'll talk about his negotiating. We'll talk about how much he's paid. We'll talk a little bit about the show.

But you're going to hear a story of someone who is taking. taken literally eight different directions and somehow have synergized them through so much trial and tribulations to be a beautiful mosaic. So you're going to hear a lot about the career, the dollars, the cents, and stay tuned to the end. The rapid fire is great. His best investment, his worst investment, where he spends too much money and why. It's just a jam-packed episode. And I promise you, I promise you, I promise you, I guarantee you, this is a side of Craig and storytelling, career tracking, financial depth and business acumen that you have not seen or heard yet from Craig Conover. Now, let's transition into something you need to know going into this month. There is

something called the October effect. What is the October effect? Essentially, it describes this anomaly that investors have that the month of October typically brings financial declines and market crashes. So according to Investopedia, several stock market crashes in the past 100 years started in the month of October, including the stock market crash of 1929, the Black Monday crash of 1987, the 1989 mini market crash, the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the bare market crash of 2007 all started historically in October. So investors really keep their eyes out. We'll see. Should we be worried this October? I don't know. Historically, it says we should. but it's called the October effect.

So just be aware, keep an eye on things. If people look for signs, they may see them. Just think about that. All right. And some little update in my personal life, honestly, you know, there's obviously the steps of grieving and there has been low lows and high highs, but I think the last week is the best week I have felt.

I just am getting, not there yet, but I'm getting towards the point of acceptance. And I am just feeling a little bit better every single day, every single week as I heal and I grow and I move towards what my journey will look like. One thing I have talked about over and over on some blue in the face, I'm going to therapy every two to three weeks. So that is just so, so important. And one of the big things that I learned this week in therapy, we talked a lot about universal needs. And if you feel as though maybe you're lacking in some of these areas, how you can explore them to get more out of what you want and your

happiness and your overall needs as a human. We need connection. We need safety, security. We need self-expression. We need passion. We need belonging. Let's talk quickly about them. Belonging. We need to belong to some sort of system. Passion. Passion motivates and re-energizes us. It's our need for purpose. Self-expression. We need self-expression that is judgment-free. Safety and security. We all have a need for security and safety in several areas of our own life, financial relationships, environment, and so on. In connection, we all need connection, social and emotional. So think about those five universal needs, connection, safety, self-expression, passion, belonging. What are some areas that you can improve on? And how can you improve on those? And those are some things that I'll be

continuing to work on as I grow day by day. Of course, there's going to be setbacks. Of course there's going to be lows. But how can we make tomorrow better than yesterday, especially given the fact that time is just so short on this damn planet. But that's a little update about who you're going to hear from today, what's happening in this month, the old October effect, and a little update from my personal life. Also in the reviews, when you give five stars, if there's other things you want me to include in the intro, you want a little bit more detail, you want some more stuff. Let me know in the reviews. All right, let's bring in the bell with the one and only Craig Conover. Welcome back to another episode of Trading Secrets. Today,

I am joined by entrepreneur, lawyer, author, podcast host, and one of Bravo's fan favorites from hit reality show Southern Charm, Craig Conover. Craig reigns as the pillow magnate of Charleston and beyond after starting his own sewing in Southern lifestyle brand, which has been well documented on the show. His business has become a huge success via e-commerce platform and his brick and mortar location in Charleston. In addition to all of his business success, Craig continues his career in law, hosts a podcast, writes a book, and continuously grows his brand on social media with his professional

life thriving. Craig has his longtime girlfriend, New Yorker, Paige DeSorbo by his side. How does he view his reality TV life on Southern Charm? What was the process like starting his own business? How does he balance his personal and professional life? We're going to touch it all. Craig, thank you so much for being on training secrets. Thanks, Jason. I'm going to have to write all of that down. Anytime you're feeling down and out. Yeah, my new bio or just, yeah, my positive affirmations in the morning. That was a great intro. You got a lot. going on here. Like, how are you filming Southern Charm, now nine seasons? You own a business. You're an attorney. You're back and forth between Charleston and New York, left and right, the podcast, the book.

Just like first and foremost, how do you manage it all? That's how I've lived my life and always saw my future. And obviously, during my 20s, I just couldn't figure out how to get there. But I've faced a lot of flack, which it's here or nor there. But some of my co-stars on, Southern Charm just were very confused when I wanted to do something more than law. And to me, I've always had a bunch of different hobbies. But my brain is just, I had ADD or ADHD growing up, like a lot of us. Still have it. Yeah, like I do.

Yeah, I have extreme ADHD. And so I strive with that kind of structured chaos. But finding a way to structure it has been. the challenge, and I'm still figuring it out. I can tell you the honest answer or the most recent answer has been waking up in the morning and getting moving. I took Adderall for a long time. I had those days.

I did all of that, but recently waking up, I did it this morning, eating a small breakfast, taking some pre-workout, going to the gym, my entire day is so much more organized and structured. So it starts with you have a pretty regimented way of customizing what works for you to get energy moving in the right direction. But that only started in the last year because the TV world, and again, my answers are all over the place because that's just how my brain is. It's funny when we're filming sometimes. It takes me a long time to land the plane. We're going to bring it back to this question over here.

Hey, can you? Everything you just said was great, but say it in 20 seconds. It took me a while to figure out what works for me. Like just recently, I went back to keeping a handwritten planner. So I have this book that I take everywhere because doing it on my phone wasn't working anymore. But it's constantly finding ways to hold myself accountable. Because when I slip into those not so great weeks, those dark moments, I will still find a way to entertain myself. And usually that's unhealthy behavior. Even just the vulnerability, the open, the honesty, and the self-awareness to know that stuff is huge. And anyone out there listening, I think you've got to look within to understand what you have to do to customize to yourself,

to find that productivity. You had mentioned Craig landing the plane. Let's take the plane all the way back, right? You just get asked to go on Southern Charm. This is eight seasons. It will be nine seasons ago. How do you even know where to start when it comes to making this business decision,

negotiating for yourself, understanding what you should be paid? Talk about being a fish out of water. There was no production really at the time in Charleston. Jersey Shore was really just coming off its peak. I remember I was in my second year of law school and we had laptops in a lot of our classes and I just spent the whole class Googling

should I do a reality show or not? Or what does that look like? What was the answer? You couldn't find it because they did such a great job. Up until about five years ago, you couldn't find anything online about doing TV. And so I had heard that this mythical creature that we all knew is Cameron Eubanks

that lived in Charleston was, on the real world. And she lived in Charleston. And she's the only person that I knew of to even reach out to, but I had never met. And so I messaged her on Facebook and I was like, hey, I got asked to do this reality show. I have nowhere else to turn. I don't know who to ask. I know this is out of the blue, but can I run some stuff by you? And she was like, funny enough, I was asked too, Craig. She's, let's grab lunch. And so her, chef and I grabbed lunch. All three of us were like, what are we going to do? And for me, what it came down to is what would I regret more, not doing it and wondering what if, which I can never live with that. Or doing it and having to

deal with the consequences later on, which led to me being in front of all five justices of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, five years later, promising them I want to embarrass the bar on TV. So did you have to do that? Yeah, yeah. After I passed the bar, it took me a year to get sworn in because again, for South Carolina, it was all new, maybe in places like New York or L.A. people had been lawyers and been on TV. So I did a lot of this process completely by myself other than the support of my parents. And that support was just, Craig, we trust that you've put enough thought into this. They didn't know what a reality show was. Let me ask you the business and the finances behind it. So you're an attorney now, you're getting your bar as an attorney

on average about how much can you make, especially going into it at that point and how big of a risk is it? Because I'm imagining, call me crazy, but I'm imagining reality TV, especially back then when there's not much competition, it's not paying that much. Financially, it feels like a huge risk. Maybe business liability. It's also another risk. Talk to me about the numbers and the decision and any advice you'd give for people that are stuck in decisions like that. It's funny because that was the biggest decision. I had gone to law school because I saw it as a quick way to reach a level of financial freedom and make a lot of money quickly and something that I really enjoyed and I could still help people doing it. So it checked off a lot of

my boxes. I knew that doing reality TV could severely hinder that path. I was on a good path to make some money at a good firm. You'd be an idea though. We talk a little numbers here. What's good money at a firm? I would say in Charleston, I had the potential to make low, like probably around 115 to 130 grand in my first year out of law school if I was working full-time at this firm, which in Charleston, making six figures as a 25-year-old, you're going to be in the top 1% of your friend. And this is 2014, so that's also put perspective almost 10 years ago. And to tell you a little bit about myself, there was the defense firm path where you had a set

guaranteed salary. Okay. And that's the safe path, at least in my opinion. If you're a defense attorney, that's not works. If you're a defense attorney for an insurance company or something, you are going to be guaranteed, say, 130. Okay. As a plaintiff's attorney and personal injury, you're only going to be guaranteed 50 to 60K. But you have a chance to make unlimited money because you get a percentage of what you win. Okay. So you eat what you kill. What are typically the percentages? I remember the firm that I was at had one of the highest ones, and I think you got 10% of the settlement.

Yeah, because you see those settlements, like on TV and stuff, $5 million, $2 million, $10 million, $20. So 10%, that's material. So you get 33% of the settlement unless it goes to trial. If it goes to trial, then you get 40%. And I think you would get 10% of the firm's fee. Okay. So then a day around four or five percent of, but that, that's what I operated on.

I loved that. Yeah. I loved not being capped. Okay. So no, and so doing reality TV, I was like, back then especially, and it's still probably true. I don't think it's a trade secret, but third season is the rainmaking season. I knew I would have to go, our show would have to make it to third season before I would make even a comparable amount to what I could make as a lawyer. So that was the risk.

How much does it change without getting in trouble with NBC? Does it change significantly third year, fourth year, fifth year, sixth year, seventh year, eighth year, eighth, or ninth year? Is it changed materially year over year? Do they say, okay, you negotiate like a three-year period? It's locked in? Like, how does that work? I think it's different for everyone. I can say there's a reason that I'm still doing it.

I had a big hand in an orphanage down in Port-au-Prince, which was really fun. I had a way young age than I really had. ever thought I'd be able to do that. I want to change a thing. I'll say that. Like, I'm happy. I feel like we work hard. But on the business side of things, I can tell you, me personally, I would never stay

at a job where I wasn't rewarded for my hard work. And I feel like I have been rewarded year over year. And, yeah, that's what people ask me. There are some pros and cons to putting your life out there. I've been, yeah, I guess. all of this stuff's probably going to, there's so much going on around it. I'm watching my arms.

Around what, around what? Just like. The negotiations and stuff? Yeah, yeah. Okay. But no, there is a reason that I think people stay in it. Because a lot of times when you are on reality TV, it takes away your ability to work a normal job.

Yes. Right? Your schedule is going to be unpredictable. You have to go away for months at a time. You cannot, no boss in the world is going, going to be okay with you at a normal job with the bachelor right one time one month you can go but that's it you do it again you're gone with you with the consistency of southern charm and going on summer house and all this stuff there's no way that you could have a position other than working

for yourself what's funny is that reasons different for everyone find it funny that a lot of very wealthy people still do it which god bless them because people like to watch them but for me it's always been a career path. And if I won the lottery, would I still be doing it? Who knows? Nine seasons later, when you look at the business of reality TV, what it's brought to you, versus what it would have been as an attorney working nine years into your career. If you had the crystal ball, do you think you're making more now being in reality TV after nine seasons under Bravo, being the star of Southern Charm? Or do you think if you had stayed full-time, 60, 70 hours a week as an attorney, nine years into your work, you'd be making more as an attorney.

Yeah, I still love the law. I still have my firm in Charleston, and I'm really excited to do something more with that one day. But I do have a lot of attorneys come to my meet and greets at the store, and they're always like, you made the right decision. They're always laughing, and they're always very humble about it. But they're like, man, you can see it in their eyes. They're like, and that's because to get to the level I'm at now, I would have had to work. those 60-70-hour weeks. And I was prepared to do that, but in this life, I don't work 60-70-hour weeks,

but there's just other things that you have to give. You have to give a little bit of your piece. It's funny because you hear some people might have different opinions on this, but I know exactly what I'm getting into every year and I weigh the consequences. And at the end of the day, I like furthering my career and bank account.

And at this point in my life, I like sharing my story and sharing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel because for so long I've been on this rollercoast of a ride that viewers of Southern Charm have gotten to watch. And it's so fun to be able to share the store with them now because I was at some dark places. Nothing that I couldn't dig out of, but I think it gives people some sort of hope that's if Craig can somehow get there by focusing on a side hustle. a passion project that maybe I can do. I like that. I think that's brilliant and I think it's awesome that you have a passion project while having influencing while having Sowing Down South

which you started in 2018. A question I had though and I don't know if you can show this or not but Bravo, there's a lot of the talent that bring their businesses to light from the show. The show is magnifying the brand. Everyone that

watches the show, Southern Charm, knows, sewing down south. Do they have any apprehend? about you putting your business in? Do they get a percentage of sales? Do they ask for a percentage of equity? Is there anything they do from that standpoint, knowing they're giving your business such a big platform? They've been nothing but supportive to us,

which has been incredible because Bravo, at its heart, they only care about authenticity. And so that's what you'll see. People may have ideas. Someone might say we see a little bit more of sewing down south than someone else's idea. That's because it's real. And that's because they see.

saw the struggle. I didn't hide from cameras this breakup that I was going through. And a big part of that breakup was these tinkering and hobbies at the time and passions that I had. Like, obviously there was more to the breakup that I went through, but a lot of the viewers got to see that she didn't love the sewing. She didn't love that I was picking sewing over law. And because it was an authentic happening and an authentic story. then there's no reason not to continue to cover that. It's a good point. Yeah, it's a really good point.

But if someone comes up with a new idea for socks and they tell the producers, hey, this is what I want to do. The producers are going to be like, let's see it, though. And I think a lot of people think that you can just come up with an idea and they will feature it. But the idea has to be, like the company has to be real. It doesn't necessarily have to have a struggle. but I had a lot of guilt on myself for being like I'm in my fifth year of reality TV. I have this huge platform and I don't really have anything to show for it.

At the time I was spending most of the money I was making because I was living this pseudo-Hollywood famous life. I had finally had bought a rental property which made me be like, all right, at least you have something to show for this in a house. But I really was like, Craig, you could have been. invested a lot of that money, and you could have really had a big company by now. And for me, it was tomorrow is the next day of the rest of your life. And I have to remind myself of that all the time. And so the company took two years after its creation for me to find partners and for me to figure out the business aspect of it and how to go from being this like OCD guy sewing

pillows listening to the Taylor Swift and Eminem in his dining room to an inbox full of messages being like, Craig, we want your pillows, to actually making that for sale. Speak at home shows around the country. And I'm like, look, I know I have a huge platform. And it, of course, has helped me. But I acknowledge that, but also without the platform, I would have still been doing this. And to tell all those people that if you don't have that platform, or if your platform is not as big, you can still make this happen. And the network's there to just show people what's going on in your life. And you do have to you have to take some responsibility and accountability in that.

If you start a company and it's not doing anything, or if you start a company and you're only involved because of who you are, yeah, good luck. How authentic is that? You're not going to go on a Bravo show and use it as a giant commercial if it's not real. Yeah, and they're not going to support that. If your life is, if you have a cookbook that you're writing in real life, then they're going to show it.

Sure. I'm also hearing too, I think. Bravo has sewing down south as such a part of your story because it makes sense. It's part of the story. It was part of the breakup. And people that go on reality TV that are just trying to sling a product, if it doesn't fit a storyline, if it doesn't fit organically to what you do, good luck. And that's probably why they're so invested in your business, in your storyline. A question I have from a business perspective, when you start 2018, you already mentioned it was tough trying to figure out all these different things. has been the largest, like the number one hurdle that you had to deal with starting the business? Was it like finding investors, managing inventory, cash flowing, paying employees. I'm a business owner. What was the biggest business challenge that you had? How'd you overcome it? The biggest hurdle for me was getting out of my own way. And so I tell people, I'm a big proponent of partners. Nothing I was making was good enough to sell. I overthought a lot of stuff. and I really didn't know how to get a product in the consumer's hand.

I didn't know how to ship it to them. My buddy, Jerry, that I went to college with him and his sister-in-law came to me, and they had the wherewithal to be like ship stations for that. And so all of a sudden we have ship station, and Shopify is an easy way to start to collect orders. And so all of a sudden we have this website where someone can click a button, order it on Shopify, it prints out on ship station, and we put something in a box.

Now, the thing I didn't agree with Jerry and Amanda was he didn't want to, they didn't want to put any money into the company. Okay. And what's neat is now I can share this with other people is that we actually started our company with zero money because we didn't carry inventory. So we would collect an order and then once we had that order, go order it, go have it made. Okay. And we wouldn't have to pay the people that were making it for 60 days. after delivery. Oh, genius.

And so by the time our bill was due with our manufacturer, we had already collected the customer's money. Gotcha. So suppose that's for people that may have not followed that back home. I want to buy the pillow. I buy the pillow. You have my money now, right? You then are taking the money to buy with the manufacturer,

but you don't have to pay the manufacturer. The customer gets their pillow, and now you have this cash for 60 days that's helping you guys stay afloat. That's awesome. And so the one part of that, that I have to correct a little bit is it took five to six weeks for the customer to get their pillow and because it took that to make it. And so I was like, guys, my viewers have watched me

for a year struggle with getting things done, struggle with procrastination. Now they're going to buy a pillow. It's going to be two months. And it's going to be a month or two until they get it. And they're going to be like classic Craig. Like we bought a pillow and it didn't come for six weeks. And we weren't sending them with inserts at the time. So you bought a pillow, and it was just the pillow case. And even though it said it in the description, I was like, customers are going to be like, this is an incomplete kind of transaction with Craig.

And so Hurricane Dorian hit, and I just got on Instagram, and I was like, all proceeds from the Bahamian pillow will go to Dorian relief. So I'm sitting at dinner with my parents, and all of a sudden, that cash register sound that happens in Shopify starts, ding and ding. And they're like, oh, what's that?

And I was like, oh, sorry, I'll silence my phone. That means we just sold a pillow. And they were like, no, leave it on. And so all night we listened to my phone go off. And it was truly the first day that I felt our first big success was sewing down south. Problem is we sold thousands of pillows that we didn't have. And it took us seven to eight weeks to get them all made. And after that is when we started to carry inventory.

I was able to prove to my partners, we have a vital. viable business here. Let's put some money into inventory. And then now, and inserts. And now when you buy a pillow, you get it in five days compared to five weeks. Got it. What advice and how do you determine based on the investment people made what equity they would get? My buddy Graham owns a rum company frigate reserve. And he was like, Craig, never give up your company. Never give up your company. Never give up your company. When Jerry and Amanda came to me, they're like, the only way we see this working is if it's equally split in thirds. I had this voice in the back of my head

being like, you cannot give up more than 50% of your company. I watch, grow up watching Shark Tank, all of them. Yeah, of course. I'm sure you guys do, too. Yeah, that's great. We bet a few sharks on. They're great. Love Damon. I love the guys, yeah.

Kevin O'Lary's a wild one. Oh, that's great. Barber's even crazy. And congratulations on their new season. Yeah, exactly. So I called my dad and he was like, look, Craig, because I actually push back. I get really uncomfortable telling people things

they don't want to hear, which is something I've really worked on in the last few years. I call my dad and he was like, look, Craig, do you want all of pretty much nothing right now? Or do you want a really good piece of something that might really grow? Because he goes, you already tried it. You tried it for a year and a half by yourself

and you are no further along than you were. Maybe it's time to change it up. We split the company three ways and it has worked magically. I think it's really cool for you to say, you know what? That's what I heard. That's not what I did. and it's been very successful. Everyone stays in their lanes.

Amanda is a branding genius. Jerry is the reason we make money. He is the business guy and I'm the creative. And then obviously marketing, advertising. But it is a really fun thing. We also broke the don't do business with your friends and family. We're so close. We do business with friends and family.

And if it works, it's really fun. Obviously, there's going to be some challenges. Always. Yeah, for us, it's. it's really neat that it's equally split because there's it really takes any personal feelings out of it. I love that. All right. How about the marriage between owning the business and reality TV as far as performance? If you look at the business performance, are there direct correlations to what's happening on reality TV or in your life and the performance of the company? You're in a

breakup. You're in a new relationship. You might get engaged. A new season comes out. Do you see the spikes connect directly to your reality TV, let's call it performance. Obviously, the shows are on. Millions of people are watching the shows every week, and with the flagship store in Charleston, our foot traffic stays pretty consistent, which is great. God bless Charleston, it's a great city to visit.

And so we're always having people coming in, and now it's a bucket list stop, and it's great. But with our online traffic, what we're seeing and what Jerry's kind of not, worried, but a little annoyed with us is last year the show aired in, I think, like, July. And so this year, the show doesn't air until September. Obviously, July was massive last year because all of a sudden, the opening scene of the show was in our store. And that's in front of millions of people.

And they're like, you know what? I like that. It's a brilliant piece of advertising. And so July and August were huge last year. Now, this year, we're down a little bit compared to those numbers because the show wasn't on. Sure. So there is a little correlation. Yeah.

And so now with the show about to air next week, the numbers better come up because that's what I keep telling you. I'm blaming it all on the show. But see, our holiday season is our biggest time of year because we love, like, I'm a huge Christmas guy, and I just love the holidays in general. So we do a lot of seasonal pillows and a lot of holiday pillows. and so this will be the first time where the show's on at the same time as the holiday season. Okay, so it could be a massive hit.

It's either going to be a double whammy or it will just be consistent with last year which technically wouldn't be as great because we've got to make up for July and August. Now my brain's just running a little bit so I work out at this gym called TrueMav. Shout out, Worth Campbell, Tim McGraw, they own it in Nashville.

Next to their gym is Uncommon James owned by Kristen Cavalry. When I get out of that gym, I will see people literally just come and take photos. They just want a picture in front of the store. They don't even go in the store and shop. It's like a sightseeing vibe because it was on TV and it's Christians. Do you have that with sewing down south? Do people come just to get their picture in front of the store because it was on?

Are most consumers and buyers and the fact that the show is on is a double way? Well, no. So Amanda, that was what she brought to the table, is knowing that the store needed an Instagram. moment, which I had never even heard of. So we built this wall in the middle of the store, and it's made up of colorful yarn balls. And it's really funny. I wish we would have personally filmed our getting ready for launch, because the last few nights of the store were there till four or five in the morning building everything ourselves. So we made this very colorful wall with a neon sign in the middle of it that says, so what, S-E-W-what.

And that is where you come to take your picture. And that's just something that you talk to someone that has, like, prior to this decade, and they'd be like, what are you talking about? But it's really important. You have the butterfly wings in Nashville. People wait an hour or two. So if you can bring that moment into your store, it's great. And obviously, I try to be at the store as much as I can, and people love to see me or they

love when I'm in there. But the wall makes it so it doesn't matter if I am or not. Yeah. And it's funny because sometimes when I'm there, I always, walk up to someone and be like, hey, I'll say hi, and they're like, hi. And then I'm like, can I help you with anything? And they're like, who stores this? And I'll realize that they're in there because they like the store. Yeah, not me. A whole humbling moment there. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, we're doing something right. Okay, a question I have for you as far as people

navigating their careers. Maybe they're doing something that people look at and they're like, huh, you're going to do that? What? Why? You've done that. I remember the first time we met, we're golfing. I hadn't seen the show and we're talking about what your business is and you say that you're big into sewing and you sew pillows and that's how you got started. I was like, that doesn't, I don't know. That career, I was like, I didn't see that from you. And you're like, yeah, that's what most people say. What advice do you have for people back there that get pushback or feedback or noise from either their significant other or friends or family or outside people being like, dude, what are you doing? How do you pursue your passion and ignore all the

bullshit? It's a great question because I like to remind people that no one thought this was a good idea. And why that's important isn't because I get to say I told you. It's because if you're out there and you have an idea that no one understands or no one likes, that doesn't mean anything. You just take it with a grain of salt. And so other than my parents who are just lovingly supportive of anything that I do, people really thought that I was messing up by pursuing a career in like home throw pillows. It's a wild detour from wall work. Work reality TV, home throw. And what the law did was the law gave me an incredible fallback and safety net to allow me to risk some stuff.

And I used to think when I'd have ideas that I'd write down, oh, if it's such a good idea, someone else would have done it. And what you realize later in life, which I wish I knew when I was younger, you start to see products that you had imagined come out. And you're like, oh, my gosh. Should have done it. Yeah. And you start to see people do ideas that.

you might have been scared to do. And that's just what I want people to remember. No one thought sewing down south was a good idea. And that's why I'm happy to share where we're at now and this light at the end of the tunnel. We have a successful business where there wasn't one person that said you should do this. And so if you're sitting at home, there's two things. I want people to remember, I hope they don't feel guilty about spending time on their side hustle. You got to spend time on your own individual life too.

And the side hustle, we are getting out of that work 30 years at the same company just to make a retirement. But also, I hope you have a supportive spouse. If they don't think it's a good idea, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's not. And start messaging people online that are in the same business. I like that. I think that's really good advice. Have your own individual work, pursue it.

Even if there's noise and people tell you not to find what makes you happy. Because at the end of the day, that's what you're left with, right? if that relationship comes or goes or those people who are giving you feedback are still in your life or not, you still have your craft, you still have your purpose. One thing another crowd of people would say is not something that you should do or most people don't do is go from reality TV to acting. One thing we talked about in the golf course is that you had said, this is now some of your passion, your desire you want to make a career change possibly into acting. That's something you don't see every day. Talk to me a little bit about those aspirations.

and the likelihood of that future. Yeah, I mean, I love the production world, and I love being on set. I love talking to the crew and the producers, and I'd be lying if I said that being a Hollywood actor wasn't one of my fantasies when I was in college. If you could live nine lives, one would be like a special forces guy.

One would be an intelligence. One would be an actor. And the thing with my life, was I was not going to get up and move to L.A. to pursue an acting career. Sure, in the back of my head, I was like, I'll become a successful lawyer, and then maybe one day Hollywood will find me, and I'm here to say yes when they do. The same thing happened with reality TV. I've had a very enjoyable decade with it, but I would also love to do scripted work. And a production company took a chance on me recently, and I got to film my first film and up in

etiquette and I'm not sure when it comes out but it's I get to play a small part it's a movie about gambling and bookies and stuff and that's cool what's funny is I worked with a great guy from the walking dead and on my scene and at the end and they announced you and they're like that's a rap for Craig Conover I was like I have an issue or whatever and they're like what to the director and I was like I freaking loved that was so fun that's awesome I just I was able to apply a everything that I had picked up with in reality, which you can in reality because it's reality TV. Yeah. But I was like, I really loved telling that story.

Yeah. I went to an acting class and it was super intense actors that are full-time actors and this is what they do to work on their craft. And to get ready for one of the scenes where the girl had to cry, she's before the scene starts, she said to everyone, 40 people watching, can I scream? She screamed bloody murder like I've never heard. human in my life screen to get herself prepared for this scene. And then they go in there and I was like, this is fucking cool. But I'm like, this is also, this is like a lot of pressure. You could tell

she was nervous, the energy was high. Did you feel at all nervous on set? Is it hard to remember your lines? Give me some behind the scenes of the business of action. Yeah, I was really nervous. And Ross Marquan was who I was working with. And he, I was playing a, a guy that was getting woke up after a big night that owed someone money. And he was like, Craig, you've been there. He's, don't overthink this. You've probably owed someone money and you've been woken up after a big night. And so it was something as small as that, that I was like, okay, just be yourself.

You know how to be that person. Obviously, you have to channel other things. And then with the lines, when you're, you know, if I do something, something I'd do it 100%. And so that was something that I made sure I knew front and back. The funny thing is that it's not that important. What's not that important? Like knowing your lines, word for word, isn't what you're trying to do. You're trying to get the context of your lines.

So yeah, you have to have certain like structure, sentence structure, but the lines that I ended up delivering by our like 15th take of moving cameras around and stuff were very different than the script that I learned. Interesting. And they're okay with that. Usually directors are okay with that. Yeah. The first take, I said the line exactly how it was on the script. And the director was incredible. He came up and he said, that's not what you need to be doing here. Don't overthink it. Just react. React the way you would react in this situation. Yes. And yeah, don't go crazy with ad living, but there's a moment on the boat

after I paid the guy money and I didn't have any lines after that. He's just supposed to exit the scene. And I was like, all right, get the fuck out of here. And it just came out because I was annoyed. I had just paid him and then you're standing there awkwardly. In real life, I'd be like, all right, get the fuck out of here. Yeah.

And they were like, what did you just say? And I was like, oh, sorry, it just came out. And they were like, no, what did you just say? told him and they were like we fucking love that they were like run it back at the cameras there we're adding that and so you just have to carry some confidence into it with but not cockiness all right i got a question for you someone back homes this would be awesome i'm into this i don't even know where to start how do you find a place to audition if you want to give it a shot one thing people don't realize about actors and we've always been told as reality people being like oh i want

to do movies and they're like, guys, it is a lot is a lot because you have to switch emotions and those guys are remembering tons of lines. So that it's a big job for them. I don't know. I don't know about the audition process. I know that there is a website out there where you can upload audition tapes because for me, the way they tested me was they gave me a role of this police officer to read for. So Paige had to stand behind the camera. I went all out. I bought a police uniform off Amazon, and I auditioned in uniform so that they could actually picture what I looked like as a police officer. That's interesting because auditions now are virtually.

Yeah, a lot of them. You might not even have to be in L.A. to do it. And so that's why it's really opening a whole new door. You might have to travel yourself if you get selected, but now there's no reason not to submit these audition tapes to, I'll have to look at my phone later and find out. the website but there's this like casting website and that's what i had to upload to is that that's not backstage is it there's i'm not sure okay okay got you but they list job opportunities and there's no reason not to read for it okay trading secrets we do talk numbers here how much can you make in acting

though i'm pretty sure those guys make a lot of money i'm entry level so i'll probably make the sag rate okay which is what's a thousand bucks a day or something probably yeah something like that something around there. But as you go up, as you get experience, as your role changes, obviously we know. But you get residuals, which is funny with scripted. I still get a check for $2.50 from the movie I did with something we will never see in reality TV. We'll see. Let me go back into Bravo. You have had some appearances on Summer House, of course, with Page. When you look at those two shows, when you're thinking about it from a business perspective, do you prefer one or the other? Does one maybe pay more or less? Or is it just, listen, it's a reality show on Bravo.

It's the same thing. It does the same thing. I don't really have a preference or a thought process. There's different structures. Like Summer House, like those surveillance shows are different. You're not going to have some of the downtime that you have with us. We film for... I've never heard that term, surveillance shows? Yeah, so Summer House and Winter House, there's cameras everywhere. Okay. And so that's going to look different than a show where you're, lunch or dinner might be filmed, but the rest of your day isn't. And so it's just different.

Do you prefer one or the other? I love our Southern Charm. We used to complain, but you don't know until you do other shows. And then you do other shows, and you're like, oh, this is different. And you're like, what we're doing. So I love experiencing new things. I love that the crossover is being allowed now. I love that you might see someone from, like, Banner Pump pop up on Southern

Storm or, like, we might go over there. And because a lot of us are friends. It's a small, unique world that we're in. And I think if we went out for some beers, I probably would have a lot of stories. But no, it's just, it's very different. And it's neat to see Paige come film Southern Charm, Amigo Film Summerhouse, even though I get in trouble a lot of times.

But each are different types of mirrors that you're holding up to yourself. Yeah. You've been in a relationship before where there was a little bit of a lack of support. You're now with Paige. both of you two are powerhouses and your own respect and things that you guys do

and most of it's independent of one another. How has it been different seeing a partner like this who is having the success but also supporting you. How much would you say it does impact your ability to grow within your career? Yeah, I love

the independence. I think that's huge and the respect. We're just guest on each other's shows instead of joining that show. And that's her thing and this is my thing. Her podcast, Kigley Squad, is just her and Hannah have an incredible amount of success I'm following. And it's really funny that if we're out, if I'm by myself, sure, people run up.

But if I'm with Paige, they'll run up to her and be like, hey, Craig. And I'll be like, I get it. And it's really fun to be supportive of each other. Is it like the ego or anything like that when those things happen come into play? If you're a shitty person, probably. But fortunately, you just have to, it takes longer for guys to mature than girls a lot of times. 35 now and I see the world in just a healthier place. And that comes to being happy with yourself. I'm really happy with myself and that's, you got to root for everyone else. A lot of

times haters and people try to tear other people down and they're scared of other people's success. But the thing is it can really be successful at the same time as everyone. And I like to remind people, you'll never see, say like high school soccer practice, you'll never see people from the varsity field, looking at the JV guys talking shit about them. Like they're focused on the game that they have to play that week, and they do not have time, nor do they care about what the JV guys are doing on the field. And if anything, they're rooting for them. But the JV guys are the ones sitting back talking shit about the varsity people and hating

on them. Because they have the time to do it. And that's, you have to remember, if someone's hating on you, it's not worth their time. Yeah. So. I also heard some about criticism. They said creatives. like a true creative rarely will actually criticize when they see someone's work.

They're going to look for something within that work that they're impressed with that they can utilize. And those who aren't true creatives are the ones that will always find a way to rip it down shit on it and things like that. And it's everyone's life and structures are different, but I think it's really neat that one, page is going to be successful in our own right. And we talked the other day, and I was like, I want you to feel like you could get up and leave with the kids at any moment and be completely fine.

Yeah. Because I know that's how you will be more comfortable and we will have a better relationship. Instead of some people would be intimidated or scared or insecure that their wife could leave because they make their own money, I think I just respect that security that she'll probably, that allows her to function better. I love it. I love it. We have hit on almost every topic of your business career, and I want to touch on influencing. You have all different sources of income.

From an influencing standpoint, how big of income source is that for you? And is that something that you are actively pursuing on a day-to-day process? And when you look at your business plan, is influencing a big part of it, brand sponsorships, things like that. I'd love to grow it more, but here's the funny thing. I have my own brand. And so I keep a lot of my promotion close to my chest for Sowing Down South. That's something that my partner, Jerry, is helps control. I get jealous a lot of times of other people that there's a lot of money to be made in influencing.

But I have to remember, if I'm out there selling everyone else's stuff, it might dilute my brand awareness with Sowing Down South. now it's something that we are feeling more and more comfortable stepping outside of as long as it's non-competitive brand like I see you wearing cuts right now like we have a great relationship with mugsy jeans and cuts and and certain apparel type things I would love to to do more because I've really hit my I think I'm coming into my investment era of I've hit a certain level which has made me a good bait or a good good fisher for companies are starting to come to me. And I talked to my good friend, Dustin Johnson the other day, and he gets approached by a lot of companies too. And I'm like, how do you handle

that? And you send them to your team. And you sit on them for a little while. And the point is, is that I, the more that I can make in my regular life, the more I will have to invest in other companies. And I would love to get more involved with other companies, but you can't do it all. But we've got a restaurant, carriage house in New York now in the Westville. I've got some, they're basically like modular housing lots, trailer parks in Florida, like reeds. But there's other things coming this way. We've got a project in Charleston we're working on.

The point is now my happiness comes from spending money on investments or real estate instead of going out to the bars and clubs, which I had, if someone was going to come pay you 20, 30 grand for something, I'm like, oh, that'll buy me another point of equity. in this project we have coming up. I love that. I think that's really interesting that you look at it that way, own your brands.

Collabs come your way, great. But it sounds like the reality TV then is a huge epicenter for cash inflow so you could do these things. Do you think reality TV three, five, ten years from now is still in your future?

Do you want it to be? Yeah, I think as long as the network is as a fluid, and if they want to follow what's going on, in my life, then I'm open to that. Certain formulas work, but I think there's a lot of success to be had in like sustainable stories, sustainable storylines. People have been watching me for almost a decade and my girlfriend for six, seven years, and my friends for that long. So our lives are

about to change, and I think the network is excited too for it. And right now I don't see any reason and why to deviate from that. But I try not to let the future affect today. You've got a plan and you've got to have teams, but people ask me and Paige about long distance all the time. And what we've finally gotten to is what we're doing right now makes us happy. So why let what might happen down the road mess

with our week this week? And I feel like that's something that you've held close to your chest throughout your whole career based on everything you've said here today is what makes you happy is the way you're we're going to pursue it, irregardless of all the people's noise or opinions or what should be. You should live in the same city or you shouldn't pursue a sewing business when your attorney. You shouldn't go on reality TV, right?

You've done it your way and you can look back at your entire direction and be like, I have no regrets to it. And even with attorney work, you can go back to that whenever the hell you want. It's not going anywhere. You really got to do what you want. And I know there are stressors on that and boundaries with finances. and families and stuff, but at the end of the day, maybe look at a decision or two this week, and you always know what you want to happen.

I remember, this is a terrible example, but it's true. No, I was gonna say what I applied to the show too. I remember in college I liked two girls, and there was one that I should be with and one that I wanted to. And I knew when I asked my buddies, oh, who should I take to this semi-formal, who I hoped that they said.

And that's how I want lot of people to live their life is with the show, the same thing. I was like, I probably shouldn't do it. I should keep working at the law firm, but what do I want to do? If I, if someone made this choice for me, what do I hope they make? And that's how you should try to make decisions in your life to a, to a healthy degree. Yeah. It's like that old, there's that old adage. People are like, where should we go to dinner tonight? And you have like two restaurants, flip a coin, heads or tails, when it's up in the air, where did you want to land? I like that. That's a good one. All right, let's wrap with this. Quick little rapid fire. And I also got to get a trading secret.

for you. You can start thinking about it now. So that's coming. But a quick little rapid fire. We'll start with this. What is the worst investment you ever made? Worst investment. I'm just getting to that point in my life where I'm investing a lot of money and stuff. I hope the restaurant here doesn't become the answer to that. I'm excited for it and it's doing great. My partner, Jordan Andina, is an incredible chef. But I'm starting to get to those levels where I'm putting money into things and being like, yeah, there's some risks there. I think I do have a gambling gene in me, which is great that I live in South Carolina because the gambling apps don't work. So Crypto was big for me. I think I was up probably like a hundred grand.

And I just never got out because I was drinking. You were also, you were looking at your phone I'm inconvenient during COVID, but I was partying too, going on lives with Austin and you get drunk. And two or three days later, you'd check. And I was a finance major, and I won the trading game in my class, but I lost all that discipline. And I started to gamble for big wins instead of how I won that game was incremental gains with stop loss orders. If it started to fall, you took your 10%. but that crypto rush really made me start to look for instant big winners. It's something that I've always chased is get rich quick schemes.

And so I think the stock market with the money that I put on the side, like whether it's cameo money, that I just like, all right, I'm going to gamble this in the stock market. That's probably where I could tighten it up a little bit. All right, stop loss. If you don't know what that is, recap, stay too. We'll go over that. Best investment. You look at it back and you're like, oh, that was nailed that one.

I bought a rental property one about six years ago. How much you buy it for? My first one was 180. Okay. And it's probably appreciated. And I put 20% down. So I put almost 40 down. Yeah, it's worth about $350 now plus all of the annuity of that rent.

Of course, the cash flow. All right. What is something that you spend too much money on, but looking back at how you spend? You're like, that's something I always know I spend too much money on, but I'm not going to change it. That's a great question, probably going out to eat. Yeah, like experiences, restaurants. Yeah, experiences. I think of mine might be that. I should have, looking back, I would have put it more into traveling somewhere for that. I wish I would have been a bigger travel, and I wish I'd put more money into traveling. Okay. Who is one person from Bravo other than Andy, yourself,

or Page that you're extremely impressed with? Number one person from Bravo other than those three. Probably Stasi. Stasi and I go back to, like, day one almost together. They started a year before us, but we looked up to the Vanderpump kids, and I've just stayed, I've just really loved to watch her life and how she handles things. And her success, I remember she was one of the first ones with a podcast, one of the first ones to write a book. She's crushed it.

Yeah. She's a very sharp business person. That's a good one. I know she's not on right now, but still on. the Bravo universe. That suit popped into my head. Last one I got for you, Bravo collapses. Network's gone. None of the shows exist anymore. You want to stay on reality TV. Reality TV wants you to stay on it. What is going to be the number one show that you try to get on? I've always loved Jersey Shore, but if it paid enough, I would love to do Survivor. I grew up watching

it. Big Brother is too cutthroat for me because I really don't like the betrayal aspect, but I love the show or respect it, but it would be... Gets dicey. Yeah, like the traitors game or whatever that everyone's doing. If there's an aspect of having to screw people over, it makes me uncomfortable. If Paige would be okay with it, 90-day fiancé. 90-day fiancé is the show I would go work on. If I was a producer, like, I was going to say, how could you work out of it?

That's just, that's our main show that we watch. You and Paige got a lot of action going on here. Bring some people in. I would say Survivor. Survivor's a good one. All right, good stuff. We got to end with one trading secret. trading secret that people can only get from you. Craig Conover based on either money management,

life management, business management. It could be anything of the sort, but it's been your trading secret. What is one thing you could leave us with? I've been chasing that forever. I googled so many times as a teenager, like how to get rich quick. I remember Google ads back of the day where people are selling a way to make money on Google ads, whatever it may be, I've tried it. I've never made more cash than when I bartended. I just wish I would have taken that money and bought real estate sooner. I think a lot of people don't know that you, and you can find this, but that you can actually buy a house with 5% down now. This is a tough time to do it. But just then taking that equity and buying another house, if I would have started 10 years earlier, it would have been great. And there's people

that have a lot of money that are willing to give it to people. Yeah. Yeah. And, And they're like, wait, if you can get me 10% on this, like, I'll give you money. So I think I'm still chasing that trading secret, but if you're young, download Robin Hood or something and or ask your parents to help you with it and start to learn the market at a young age. I think there's a lot of kids that are really good at math. Like, I went to, I took college math in eighth grade at University of Delaware, but no one taught me how to translate my skill with numbers into profit. abilities. I think really just starting earlier would be cool. And yeah, I know it's not a great answer, but I think it is to start earlier. You're saying here right now when I was making cash and bartending, I wish I'd put it to real estate. So start earlier, educate yourself and get

your damn money to work. Get your money to work. Especially now when interest rates are at 8, 9, 10%, our money is losing value by the second. So if you are not putting that money to work, you are going to be left in the dust. Just don't overthink stuff. It's easy. It's hard not to overthink things. And then download, I think it's Rocket Bill now or something.

Any app that'll help you track your money, my spending is at least five to ten times higher when I don't have to see it. And I think that's true for everyone. So if you download an app that like Uber's and Uber

eats, like God bless them, that the amount of money that I spend. Oh, it's nauseating. And so if you start to really write down stuff, keep your own records. And if you do, and I just think if you're able to have the discipline to do it, you're like, oh, maybe I'll cook in tonight. And I can take that extra $50 I was going to spend and put it into a different place.

It's a good piece of advice. Guys, stay tuned to the recap. We're going to go over a list of apps based on Craig's recommendation of apps you can download that will help you track your spending. so you don't even have to do it manual if you don't want to. Craig, this has been awesome having you on Trading Secrets. Where can everyone find everything you have going on? Listen to pillows and beer.

Anywhere rock podcasts are found, we come out every Tuesday and Thursday. Download pillow talk. What's wrong with my sewing is my book or order it on Amazon, wherever books are found. Go eat at our restaurant, Carriage House. Check out Sewingdownsouth.com. I think you'll find, there's a little something for everyone on there. Watch Southern Charm. premieres September 14th and then is on every Thursday after that. And check out my home shows.

I'll be appearing in Raleigh, Jacksonville, Atlanta, and a couple other home shows after that. Just stay track on our socials. Follow me on Instagram and I'll keep everyone apprised of where I'll be. It's a lot of action. That's a lot of things on Craig's plate. Thank you for sharing a little bit about those things. Your trading secrets in all those directions and being on the show. Thanks, ma'am. Before we ringing the bell, I got to bring something to your attention. This week is Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, so make sure to check that out. We are closing in the bell with the one and only, the Curious Canadian, on the Craig Conover podcast.

David Ardwin is with us. David, I can tell you this much. I've got to golf with Craig. I've got to hang out with Craig. I know you and Craig would be boys. You'd love this guy. Great dude has had just a lot going on in his life. One thing I could tell is you really don't know someone from seeing them on TV

because I don't think Craig gets painted in maybe the most positive light for just overall what I learned about him in this interview. That guy is intelligent. That guy is thoughtful. That guy is deep. And he sums it up by saying, I try and give these well thought out detailed responses on TV shows. And they say, okay, great.

Now sum it up in 20 seconds. And that's just not who Craig is. So I really enjoyed the episode, Jay. I thought you guys had great chemistry. I learned a ton about them. And one thing I will say, not to be too long-winded here, I love our show.

And I love our show. Tell me more. What do you mean? Because if I Google Craig Conover right now, I'm seeing Southern Charant drama. I'm seeing he didn't support this cast member in their split. I'm seeing Scandival possible 2.0 in Southern Charm season. I'm seeing all, not the BS,

but I'm seeing the clicky, the drama. You come to our show, you get facts. You get to learn about someone. You take some motivation out of it. You take a little life tip out of it. You take a little business tip. And most importantly, you'll learn about these guests that we bring on there to well rounded and successful.

So I'm a trading secrets stand. I love it. I'm here for it. It's the beauty of trading secrets. We get guests like Craig Conover and you're hearing a whole different side of Craig. You heard a whole different side of Craig, David. What questions do you have? There were a couple things.

the hot seat for two and a half years now, but there's still a couple things that were said that I need some clarification on, some business related things, some stock market related things that if I don't know it, someone else out there might not know it. So Jay, you guys talked a little bit about the stock market. You talked a little bit about investments. And he said that he used to just be really successful in the stock market. I think he won something in college in terms of a challenge. And he said he used a stop loss method or stop loss strategy to win that. Can you break down stop loss a little bit for myself and the people at home? David, here's the thing with stop loss.

I always like to take things that sound confusing in finance and bring them to people that can understand concepts that they would probably want to implement their life. David, have you ever created a budget for yourself in a casino and then you're starting to do a little bit worse than you expect it and maybe you start pulling out some money? The justification is real when that happens. Now, imagine you could put this thing in place that when you go to the casino,

you have a budget, you'll lose up to $300. But after $300, this thing, this tool shuts you down. Literally can't do anything. You can't go to your bank account. You can't ask friends. It's like a computer chip in David's brain that says $300 is lost. You are shut down. You will not leave this place with losing more than $300.

Would you want something? Hypothetically, yes. I would say I need something like that. Okay. So stop loss is just that. So what it is, it's an advance order that essentially that you can sell an asset that at a particular point. And the purpose is to understand your max loss potential.

So if I'm going to do a short-term trade, it could be used for long-term trading too, but a short-term trade, and I know that the most I'd wanna lose on this is X. I can put a stop loss order in to say if that particular asset hits that point, trigger the sale because I don't wanna lose it. I think I need that.

I think I might need that in my life. And man, we haven't been to a casino in probably over a year. So, David, maybe we would be into it. You said he went golfing with Craig. I think casino with Craig would be great. One thing Craig did talk about a lot. He talked about the crypto rush that he was in. He also in his trading secret talked about how he never had more cash than when he was a bartender.

And he wish he would have gotten to real estate sooner. He wish you would have learned the market at a younger age. But I think overall just had a really, he wishes he had a better grip on his spending. You mentioned at the very end of the episode, Jay, a list of apps that are great to download to track your spending. We haven't touched on this in a long time. So can you just rifle them off out there for the people at home? Yeah.

So my favorite one ever was called Personal Capital. They were acquired by Empower Personal Wealth. Empower is my favorite. Mint is a great one. There's one called Good Budget. Pocket Guards are really good one. And then every dollar. Oh, there's another one called Honeydew.

And then additionally, Capital One has one through their tools online. That's amazing, too. notepads down microphones back up i do have another real curious question and it was at the very start of the episode when he talked about the bar i had no clue even though i've seen craig on tv for many years that he was a lawyer i didn't know he had a law background but he talked about passing the bar i've always heard the bar i don't know what the bar means i don't know if it's a measuring bar i don't know if it's a test like an lsat or an sat that's called the bar but then he talked about having to get sworn in after a year of passing the bar by the bar

to basically admit he wouldn't make himself a disgrace on national TV and embarrass the bar. Can you tell me anything about the bar? Can you define the bar? Can you tell me about the process to pass the bar? I'm just a little confused on what the bar is. As you were talking there, I started Googling it because I truly don't know. Here's what I've found. The United States, the procedure is administered by the individual U.S. states and their respective bar associations. In general, a candidate must graduate from a qualified law school, pass a written test, and the bar exam, which is the bar examination. Almost all states use the multi-state bar examination on multiple choice exam administered on a one day of a two or three-day test. If the candidate reaches the

score required by a particular state, the candidate is then admitted to the bar, a lawyer whose license to practice law is revoked is said to be disbarred. State bar associations may set additional requirements to bar admissions, such as trial and court observations. So what it sounds like is you get in the bar by passing the test and having a qualified law school degree, but you can be disbarred. If you're disbarred, you can't practice. It feels as though his concern was worried about being disbarred or he was trying to be in the bar, so in addition to everything, he had to plea his case. And I was surprised by this because, I don't know, I know he said, I'm sure in New York and L.A., those states had dealt with it.

I'm still surprised that he was one of the first people ever from South Carolina, be on TV, but be a lawyer. You go to school, you go to law school, you spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars, you grind trying to pass the test. And then at the end, there's still this committee of people that you don't know who they are and they don't know who you are and they're giving you, they're dangling the carrot of basically giving you approval to even practice what you've just invested 10 years of your life and hundreds of thousand dollars into getting.

Isn't that kind of weird? I think the craziest thing about it is you could do all that, David, you could pass your law school and just be like a hero, like 4.0 student. But if you don't pass that bar exam, you can't practice. So many professions are nurses, too, you go nursing school, all this stuff. There are these tests that if you don't pass these standardized tests, okay, pay your debt off, you're good. I don't know. I have more of the opinion like creating a standard that must be met for people that are carrying a lot of power, especially like attorneys who are like literally practicing the law. I think that's important. But man, that would suck if you didn't pass it. It didn't get sworn in and people just

said, yeah, no, despite all that, you're not going to be able to practice. I thought that was wild. It was really cool to hear you guys talk. You talked about acting. You talked about the show. You talked about his store, obviously. You talked about his influencing and how strategic he is with that, with his own business. I thought it was really cool. He said he's in his quote unquote investment era, not to get too swiftly on us with all the Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey stuff in the air. But overall, one of those episodes that I know when you're in that chair with them, you're like, man, we could probably do a part two, part three, part four. But we just might have to have them on after the Southern Charm season wraps up for another one.

I don't say this about many guests, but I'll say this about Craig. And it's in the best way possible. If you gave me a crystal ball and told me Craig was doing this, whatever it is, in one, two, three, five, ten years, I would be willing to say almost nothing would surprise me in a positive light. I think he is capable of doing a lot of big things. Like we talked about acting, I could see him being like a massive actor in five years. He just has, I think, what it takes to make big shots and then have them be successful.

So it will be cool to see where Craig is. If you would have told me this before I listened to the episode, I would have said, you're out of your mind. And now after the episode, I actually think I agree with you. I had no clue he was that busy. I had no clue he had that many things on the go. I had no clue he was that successful. and I had no clue that his perspective on what he's doing was so well thought out and detailed.

So I thought it was a great episode. I thought it was really good. Great episode. David, thank you for being here, the one and only. You know what? We had Joe and Serena on and we said we were going to give something away from Serena's reset collection. And that is exactly what we are going to do. And we are going to give something away to the Money Mafia. Don't forget, always give us five stars. Let us know your biggest takeaway from the episode or a guest we should have on. And you'll be entered to win. something because in the recap, we give something away every single episode. This one comes from auto butter credit score. Great job, Serena. I had my husband in my phone as 640 when we started

dating because he literally had a 640. He was five years out of a divorce, had to short sell his home, crazy child support, and I didn't take him too seriously. 20 years later, his score is now at 815 and he retired at 50 and I retired at 55 and we have great pensions. Retirement accounts. and savings, wishing the best for them and Jason and Caitlin and Lowe with a heart. That's a very nice review. Thank you, Otto Butter. Shoot us your dress at Trading Secrets at Jason Tardick.com. You have won something from Serena's Reset Collection.

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