Tabitha Soren, Former Celebrity Journalist, Shares Practical Business Advice

Tabitha Soren. Many of you may remember her from her MTV days when she interviewed Tupac, Mariah Carey, and Hillary Clinton, and many others.

What you may not know about Tabitha is that she is now an accomplished photographer. After building her collection, The Fantasy Life, over the last 14 years, her exhibition is now on display at the San Francisco City Hall.

Her affiliation with Moneyball (her husband, Michael Lewis wrote the book), may lead you to think that Tabitha is a sports fan. On the contrary, she embarked on this project with no interest in baseball.

Sigh. Why do all the non-sports fans get access to the likes of Derek Jeter? Be still my jealous heart.

Nonetheless, Tabitha was very much intrigued by the human spirit of the twenty-one athletes that she documented over 14 years. Their resilience, courage, work ethic. Ability to bounce back after devastating injuries. And the unfortunate fall from grace that some never recover from.

Me and Emily Howe, famously known as "Femily", met up to attend Tabitha's press release earlier this week

Emily, "Femily", Howe is the Make.It.Happen woman that you need on your team.

Photo credit: Sarah Deragon Portraits to the Peoples

Femily, is an undercover, magical bossbabe/consultant/curator that all artists and boss ladies need to strive to get to know on a first name basis. Note the emphasis on strive- while Femily is super chill, she's a highly sought after consultant and picky with her time.

During the release event, we had the opportunity to have a private chat with Tabitha. She shared a lot of insights that we had to keep off the record, but we did get some golden nuggets that I am able to share with you.

My biggest interest was learning how she has been able to sustain her lifestyle while working in industries that are, generally speaking, challenging to monetize. 

Tabitha's advice to artists on following your passion.

Often times, as creatives we are told to just "follow our passion" and everything will fall into place. 

I don't know about you, but I don't know of a landlord or bank that accepts passion as a form of payment.

At some point, sooner rather than later, you will need to figure out how to monetize your dream. Or else, your dream will fizzle like an ice cube in Arizona's spring training heat.

Tabitha's advice is to keep your day job as you build your side gig. And eventually transition from doing your gig part-time to full-time.

“As I was building my business, I continued to work my day job. Then put in an extra five to six hours on top of that, everyday, to build my thing.”

— Tabitha

Further elaborating on her suggestion, Tabitha recommended viewing your corporate role as a way to fund your dream. While it takes a lot of energy to have a job and build a side gig, getting a steady paycheck eliminates the stress that arises when you have no idea how you will pay your rent.

My Two Cents

So, I completely agree with Tabitha. You should keep your day job as you grow your side hustle. Worrying about bills will completely drain your creativity.

With.That.Said.

I totally did not do this when I launched and built my business. I dove in, head first, with no back up plan and minimal savings.

It worked for me because I enjoy the pressure. Maybe it comes from years of running track and thriving under the competitive energy.

However, I know that it's not for everyone. And would never wish the stress that I've endured on my worst enemy.

Well, maybe my worst enemy. But, you get the point. 

At the end of the day, you have to decide what works best for you. Then give it 150% of your effort.

Now, I'd love to hear from you! What are your thoughts on the early stages of building a business? Should you keep your day job? Should you go all in?

Let me know in the comments below!

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Lessons You Can Learn From Johnny Depp's Financial Woes

Oh goodness. Johnny Depp is in the news. For not good things. Again.

This week, Bloomberg and the Private Wealth magazine shared further insights on Johnny Depp's lawsuit against his management company for allegedly mishandling his funds.

For some background, many affluent individuals hire a company, usually a management group, to take care of their taxes, bill payments, investments, and everything else financially related. Essentially they are a one-stop shop for their busy clientele, as they are expected to run their business and private life.

Typically the company retains a percentage of the client's gross annual income. In this case, the Management Group (TMG) led by two brothers, Joel and Robert Mandel retained 5% of Depp's annual earnings. Roughly $28 million over the last 17 years.

The Issue

Depp has filed a lawsuit against TMG, seeking $25 million in damages for negligence and mismanagement. He claims that their tax filings for him are inaccurate amongst other complaints.

TMG claims that this lawsuit was filed in retaliation of them filing Depp's home for foreclosure. Which is happening, because Depp is allegedly not paying on the loan that the TMG had to secure for him after his initial loan through City National  defaulted.

TMG had previously warned Depp that his lavish lifestyle was unsustainable. They revealed a breakdown of his $2 million per month expenditures. And shared conversations where they advised Depp to cut back on his spending, only to be met with a litany of profanity from the actor.

My Two Cents

Irregardless (yes that's a word) of your feelings about Depp's spending or if his trusted advisors could have prevented his financial meltdown- the issue lies in the fact that it is not wise for anyone to completely hand over their financial well-being to an outside entity or individual.

Let's put it this way: it would be like expecting your personal trainer to do pushups or burpees on your behalf. Or expecting to maintain a fit body, when you eat like crap five days out of the week. Or thinking that you can get all your workouts done in January, to last you the rest of the year.

It doesn't work. You have to be an active participant in your well-being. And the experts that you hire need to take the time to educate you on how to be financially savvy. As opposed to just doing the work for you.

What you can learn from this

I've worked with hundreds of small business owners. And have spoken to thousands of entrepreneurs. And many of them fall in to the trap of hiring a financial professional and expecting he or she to do all of the work for them.

NO. 

It is your duty to be involved and seek out educational opportunities.

Like I tell all of my clients, "No one cares more about your money than you do. So it's your job to make it your business."

And to my financial professional colleagues, don't do all of the work for your client. Teach them how to fish and empower them with information to learn how to manage their money for themselves.

At the end of the day, 99% of financial professionals want to do right by their client. But, the relationship is a two-way street. And will only work if both parties are active.

As an entrepreneur, here are three things you can do to avoid Johnny Depp's financial disaster.

1. Weekly money dates and monthly reviews. Reconcile your books on a weekly basis. And request a monthly financial analysis meeting with your financial professional, to review your cash flow, expenses and (hopefully) profit

2. Establish checks and balances. Do not work with only one financial professional. The person who files your taxes should be different than your bookkeeper or accountant or personal financial advisor. Checks and balances protects everyone.

3. Stay educated. Seek out opportunities to learn how to do your books, run financial reports and become savvy with your money. A great place to start is our Financial Foundations program. You can check out the testimonials and get information about the program, here.

For more celebrity business insider tips so you can live like the rich and famous, click here to join our weekly newsletter! 

Lindsay Lohan launches new business venture

Celebrities and lifestyle websites have been all the rage lately in Hollywood.  With Gwyneth Paltrow and the Kardashian-Jenner clan trailblazing the path, celebrities from Zendaya to Shay Mitchell, to now Lindsay Lohan, are all building businesses around their unique approach to experiencing your best life

A couple of weeks ago, Lindsay announced the launch of her new lifestyle site, Preemium, where she'll share the behind the scenes of her life. 

Drumming up excitement for the launch, she deleted almost all of her Instagram posts and shared that in order to learn more about her life, you'd have to sign up for her $2.99 app.

What I love about this venture:

• Collaboration with other celebrities. Lindsay plans on partnering with celeb friends to help build the project. Teaming up with others who are like-minded and bring value to the table, is a big plus. And it will differentiate her lifestyle website from the many others.

• Monetizing her brand- go girl! You know that I'm all about building a brand and using it to monetize your uniqueness. This platform will allow Lindsay to continue to expand her empire.

• Great timing with her upcoming projects. The Mean Girls star is set to host a reality prank show called The Anti-Social Network as well as star alongside Harry Potter alumni Rupert Grint in the British television series Sick Note. Her site will be a great way to connect with and draw viewers to her shows.

What I don't love:

• Too many topics. Currently, Lindsay's site promises insights on sports, lifestyle, music and fitness. If she were my client, I would recommend that she choose one area of focus in order to establish the know, like, trust factor. Kim Kardashian is a great example of this- she is known for sharing beauty advice and was able to launch a successful product line (you can read more about it, here!) because her fans know, like and trust her beauty advice. On the contrary, Blake Lively's lifestyle site Preserve shut down about a year after it launched in 2014. I believe it was not successful because there were way too many items and categories. Blake needed to take the time to hone in on one focus, perhaps home decor, before moving on to cooking tips and other lifestyle pieces.

• Not original. While I believe that the collaborations will help set this site apart from others, I wish that Lindsay would stretch out of her comfort zone and build a lifestyle site around topics that are bit edgier. Every celebrity talks about their workouts, beauty tips and VIP events. It would be fun if Lindsay shared more insights about her travel and cultural experiences, and how this is influencing her period of renewal. As she shared with People Magazine.

My two cents (probably worth $2M, duh):

I absolutely love this concept for Lindsay and am excited to watch this platform grow. In order to be successful, she will need to narrow her focus. And she needs to continue to share free content on social media in order to drive traffic to the site. 

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Behind the scenes of Kim Kardashian West's $14M beauty line launch

Kim Kardashian West, hate her or love her (and for the record we at #MoneyandMimosas L-O-V-E her), there is no denying that this woman is a BOSS. With a capital B.

After gracing the cover of Forbes magazine in 2016, Kim made a definitive move to step away from licensing and take ownership of her brand by launching her own line of beauty products.

KKW, her beauty product line, launched on June 21st with a contour kit. And within six short minutes it sold out- 300,000 units- $14 million.

$14 million in sales in six minutes.

If that's not BOSS, then I don't know what is.

And since, we are all about supporting women bosses, we did some sleuthing around Hollywood to find out three insider tips on how Kim was able to make this happen.

Of course, we are not just suggesting that these tips will lead to $14 million in sales. However, there are some key - yet simple- action steps that Kim took that may help your next launch or stimulate overall growth in your business.

Insider Tip #1: Nurture your position as an authority. Kim has shared makeup tips, specifically contouring tips, for years before she launched her own line. For over 10 years, Kim has worked with her makeup artist Mario to perfect her signature look and establish herself as one of the go-to resources for how-to makeup tutorials. As you are building your brand, it is fine to have a variety of areas that you are known for, however always have a home base. A topic that is synonymous with your name and company. For example, Kim has done fitness videos, a clothing line and been involved in a plethora of other projects, but her core message has always been related to makeup. And she has established herself as an authority figure in that space which gave her the foundation to have a successful launch.

Insider Tip #2: Own every step of the process. Just before the KKW launch, Kim appeared at the Forbes Women's Summit to chat about her experience as an entrepreneur. One of the insights she shared about her line, was how important it was to her to own this line as opposed to contracting another licensing deal. While there are certainly more risks to ownership, the potential upside is far greater. As you build your business, especially as a one-woman show it may feel overwhelming as you anxiously await for the moment when you can hire a team to help you deal with the nitty gritty. And while Kim obviously has a very talented team around to help her, she was involved with every detail of the launch. Take heed, and pay attention to all of the minute details of your business- from the font of your website to the thank you emails that are sent to your customers. Your future bank account will appreciate you for it.

Insider Tip #3: Launch with one specific offering. Kim is the queen of contour and it was a genius move to launch with a contour kit. Over time her product line will include additional offerings, and only time will tell if the business is successful. However, the decision to launch with one offering, as opposed to litany of products, was a wise move. As a small business owner, reflect on one service that you can promote the heck out of and generate buzz around during a launch. Maybe it's a 4-week training program, or a live workshop, or a physical product...whatever it is be sure that it is very specific and focused. And ideally one that ties to insider tip #1- a reflection of your authority in the marketplace.

And now we'd love to hear from you! Which of these tips was most helpful to you?

Let us know your business, website and the answer to the above question in the comments section.

Cheers!

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The $12 mask that you will give you glowing skin in 30 days

As a pre-teen and teenager, my skin like most kids my age, had a mind of its own. Breakouts, buckets of oil, huge pores, blackheads, you name it. While it certainly could have been worse, the volatility of my skin made me self-conscious.

Thankfully, I had a mother who wanted nothing more than to make sure that I felt comfortable in my skin, so she researched different skin-care home remedies that I could try. We did not have a huge budget to spend on luxurious masks and my mom wanted to make sure that I used all-natural products. She was all about the all-natural, green skin-care movement before it became trendy.

She stumbled across a Chinese beauty treatment where you put egg yolk on your face. The treatment called for applying egg yolk onto your face once per day for 30 days. After the month was over, you can continue to do the mask as your skin needed it.

Within two weeks, I saw a huge improvement in my skin. After after the 30 days, my skin was SO glow-y.

As an adult, my skin is not as oily. But, I’ve continued to do this mask every now and again when I want a quick glow-me-up.

Why egg yolk? The yolk contains...

Protein- the egg yolk contains over 40% of the egg’s protein. Protein is a building block for the skin which helps with elasticity and repair.

Vitamin A- this alone is a miracle for the skin. Vitamin A increases blood flow to the skin by thickening and stimulating the dermis. The dermis contains our collagen, elastin and blood vessels. This increased blood flow helps to reduce wrinkles and slows down the aging process. It is also a natural exfoliator which helps to smooth the skin. It also increases natural UV protection and helps to heal acne and dark spots.

How to apply

1. Separate the egg yolk from the white either using a egg separator or the shells.

2. Apply the egg yolk all over face, neck and decollete.

3. Allow the yolk to dry until cracking. About 10-15 minutes.

4. Rinse thoroughly with warm water or egg white followed by warm water.