← The Money Mondays
The Money Mondays
These Simple Investment Strategies Are All You Need w/ Oliver Trevena 💵 EP100
00:33:31
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- [00:00]
A
Everyone told me, don't do a beverage. And everyone was right. And then I begged them to make me some cans and they'd be like, no, you have to make half a million cans. I'm like, I don't even know if I want to do this yet. I just want some cans.
- [00:10]
B
You invested in Next Health. You've invested in multiple brands. Why do you enjoy investing into brands? And what makes you say yes?
- [00:16]
A
So I want to hear their story. I want to hear the founder's story away from the product. I want to hear the founder's story of what they've done with the product and where it's at now. And then I want to try the product. If you've got a good team and you've got a good package and you've got a path to profitability, invest.
- [00:40]
B
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Money Mondays. This is going to be a very fun episode because we have our first dog being featured on the Money Mondays. But that is not the guest that I'm actually excited about. I'm just happy that he's here because it's super fun. He's yawning right now. I think I might be boring him. We are here in our RV motorhome outside of the toy drive. We're doing 10 cities in 16 days. This episode is either number 100 or 101. So I'm very excited for this episode with our special guest because he's got so many different facets that we're going to talk about. Everything from acting, investing, founding a company, and everything between. So we have some fun stories. But as you guys know, this podcast ranges from 32 to 38 minutes for your listening pleasure because the average workout is 45 minutes. The average commute to work is 45 minutes. So we want to make sure that you guys listen to all of this. And we have a 93% listen through rate because of that. So make sure episodes like this you share with your friends, family and followers. Because we need people in our society all over the world to talk about money. We all grew up thinking it's rude to talk about it. I think it's ridiculous to not talk about it. It's real life to talk about. What do you do with taxes? How do you ask for a salary? What do you do for accounting? And do you get a loan? Do you rent? Do you buy? Do you lease? There's so many questions that we don't know because in high school and in college, we just don't learn those things. And we weren't Allowed to talk about the household. The reason this podcast has stayed top 10 for 95 out of the 99 weeks so far is because of you guys having these discussions. All right, without further ado, I want to get a quick two minute bio from Mr. Oliver Trevina. And then after that two minute bio, we're getting straight to the money.
- [02:12]
A
What's up?
- [02:13]
B
Tell us everything.
- [02:14]
A
You want a bio for me?
- [02:15]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [02:16]
A
Oh, this is where. This is an awkward one. I'm about to lose your drop off rate that's about to go down. I mean, look, I grew up, I grew up in entertainment, so I grew up in a, in a town just south of London. Theater and dance was my upbringing. Found myself moving to America 20 years ago. Was meant to be in music, kind of failed in music. Fell into a TV hosting gig, did that for many, many years. Probably about 12 years. 12 years, yeah, 12 years of that. And then while that was happening simultaneously, started investing in companies and was, you know, kind of part of companies in different ways as an ambassador. And I just started to love that kind of, I guess, the way a company grows and how you grow it and how you tell the story. The same as I love, you know, acting and the same thing of how you tell the story. And so I started doing that kind of went well. Gave me the freedom to make, make the jump out of hosting back into acting. And now at the same time, the acting started taking off. I've started to produce a bunch as well.
- [03:13]
B
Oh, really?
- [03:13]
A
Yeah.
- [03:13]
B
Very cool. Okay.
- [03:16]
A
Hopefully that was a, that was on the spot. No one told me I was gonna have to do my own bio, so.
- [03:21]
B
So walk us through. In the acting world, someone that's wanting to make money in acting, what do they do to stand out? Because there are millions and millions of people that want to act or they think they can be an actor. What are the things they can do to stand out if they actually want to get that first acting gig?
- [03:36]
A
I mean, I kind of always say, because it's been my story, like, I think there are some people that, you know, luck is a massive element in our industry. And I think some people just get lucky. Right? It's just any, any, any business, any industry, but especially entertainment, there's an element of luck. That wasn't the case for me. It wasn't an overnight success. It took a grind and it was just like, keep, keep pushing. I think you have to be your own, your own biggest workhorse. You know, you have agents, you have managers, you have people around you. But at the end of the day. No one cares about your own career as much as you have to care. No one's going to work harder for your own career as much as you have to work. And so I think the mistake that a lot of people make and I made early on was, you know, I got myself an agent, I got myself a manager. When I first moved to the US And I was like, oh, my God, I've made it. It meant nothing. You know, I. You have to be the one knocking on doors, pushing yourself, Continue to train your craft. Just when you think you've got it, you haven't got it, and you try a bit harder. And I think that's why it's like, it's really just a daily. A daily grind always. Because as you know, as we all know, you know, you've got to be your own biggest fan.
- [04:40]
B
So going into switching about producing and actually investing, financing some of these films. Walk us through. How did you decide that was the time that I want to make the transition, to actually be on the other side of the camera?
- [04:51]
A
I think for me, the same way I started to then, you know, when I founded a company, there's so many similarities, at least in my mind. The way that when you. When you start a company, it kind of crosses over into the way they start a movie, right? You find a script. The script is like the product. You got to decide how are you going to tell the story of the product, who are you going to tell it with, you know, what the story is. There's a lot of that that, like, goes into the industry of filmmaking as well. What I'd experienced in my world of investing and creating brands. And so, you know, I just wanted to kind of bring that into the movie stuff. Obviously, my hosting days, I met a lot of people. I've seen a lot of people come up. A lot of people come down and met people that I like working with. And I think that was it. I was like. More than anything, I was like, I want to make movies and I want to do it with people that I enjoy working with because it is like a bubble, you know, you end up in. I mean, this year alone, I've done Bulgaria, I've done Serbia, I've done Budapest, Atlanta, Mississippi. You know, these aren't places that you. I mean, maybe some of them, but they're not the. They don't pop up on lastminute.com youm know, I mean, they're not the most desirable places to go and spend three months. So you got to make sure you're with people that you like and you want to be around. So I love making movies because I get to, like, build my own train set, you know, from the director to the cast. You know, you get to have fun doing it. And I think that's more important than anything. You got to enjoy what you're doing. And normally, if you create that kind of environment where people are enjoying it, you're going to get the best work out of people, you're going to get the best mindset, and then you're going to make money. And I think, you know, movie industry especially, has a horrible reputation because it's a horrible industry. There's a lot of dodgy people in it. There's a lot of people, especially in the producing world, that think very short term. You know, it's like, how can I raise the money for this movie, make money, and it doesn't matter if I get my investors money back because I would have made the movie. Well, the trouble with that is once you've made that movie and you've made your money, you gotta find a whole new set of investors to go out to because you've burned that current pack of investors. So there's a way to do it differently, a way to treat it like a business before the movie's been made. Like, to actually do the numbers and be like, what are the chances? Obviously, no one ever knows. Nothing's 100%. There's risk in anything. But how do you kind of remove the risk? How do you, you know, presale. How do you, you know, make sure that the actors you've got, you know, they've got a big year. Not the year, current year, but the year ahead when you actually release in the movie. What have they got happening then? So I think there's a lot of things you can put into play that boost your chances and boost the movie's chances of success and then hopefully make your investors their money back and then make more movies, Right? So I'm still learning a lot. I'm trying to surround myself with people that know more than me, which in the movie business, there's. There's people that I really respect, and I'm asking them a lot of questions. And I think that's the key, right, is. Is listening, learning from people that you respect and you trust, whether it's movies, whether it's business, whether it's brands, you know, whatever it is.
- [07:42]
B
So you mentioned starting a company. Are you referring to Kellywater?
- [07:45]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [07:46]
B
So talk us through. You're busy, you're acting you're in everywhere from Mississippi to Bulgaria and everywhere in between. Why decided to start this brand and tell us about the brand as well.
- [07:54]
A
It was Covid. Covid had hit, and I was kind of twiddling my thumbs, and I love the health and wellness space. I had already invested in Next Health as you know. And so health and wellness for my own journey had become a big part of my life. And I was at Next Health, and I would have my blood testing done, and my sugar levels kept coming back really high. And basically, long story short, that was coconut water. I was drinking about three coconut waters a day. One in the morning, one after a workout, one in the evening, and that was about 60 to 70 grams of sugar.
- [08:24]
B
Oh, wow.
- [08:25]
A
Obviously they're good sugars, but no one needs that much good sugar. And I went down this rabbit hole of what else is out there. Yeah, you know, what, what else could be as a drink? What else could be done that has the same benefits but has less sugar and less calories? And came across prickly pear. Vanessa, my business partner, Vanessa Hudgins, had already talked about prickly pear margaritas a ton. So I knew there was something there in the. In that space. And that's when we came up with this kind of, you know, doing this together thing because it does have that, like, it's a health beverage. It's digestion, skin immunity, hydration, half the calories and sugar of coconut water. And it's 100% sustainable because the prickly pear naturally drains its juice. So obviously, you know, especially now, I think it's working in our favor because coconut drinks or coconut based drinks are struggling because they can't keep up with supply and demand of coconut. You know, to harvest the coconut now with climate change and everything takes a lot, lot longer than what it used to. And so we have, you know, cactus that's just naturally draining its juices, and we're just, you know, amplifying that and, and building that. So I think timing is in our favor. But, yeah, that was during COVID Everyone told me, don't do a beverage. Everyone said, it's a pain. It's a complete pain in the ass. And everyone was right. It really is a tough business. But I think we've tried to create something different by having talent actually invested in the brand, having talent be a part of the brand. We're not wasting money on marketing where other brands, you know, do it differently. But it was a grind. I mean, literally, I remember There was this C.O. packer in Camarillo, and I would Drive there, which from my house was about two and a half hours. And I'd drive up there during COVID and I would have the flavor house do a tasting, would take it up there. They'd mix the flavor a little bit. We'd get the sugar count. You know, we'd get the. All the. All the stuff that happens when you're trying to make a beverage. And then I'd beg them to make me some cans, and they'd be like, no, you have to make half a million cans. I'm like, I don't even know if I want to do this yet. I just want some cans. And I would end up paying them. At one point, I was paying them like a hundred bucks a can to make a drink. And I would make 20 cans. And I found this black suitcase. I've still got it in my closet in the kitchen. It looks like a briefcase, but it's got foil on the inside. And so I'd rock up to, like, some meetings with, like, friends or people that knew beverage. And I would guard these cans with my life. Like, I'd feel. Feel the people out. Like, if I felt like it was a Tinder swindler meeting, I just wouldn't let them try the drink. And if I felt like there was something there, I'd be like, try a can. And I'd pull out a can from this briefcase. Like James Bond. Yeah. Which I still think I have ptsd because I open up my fridge now and I see Cali water, and there's something in me that still thinks I'm not allowed to drink $100. Yeah. But that was it. And it was a grind. And then we'd drive back and forth, and. And I'd bring the drink to Vanessa, and she'd taste it, and she'd have notes on the flavor, and I'd drive back, and then they'd be like, ah, the. Our forklift driver got Covid. The factory is now shut for four weeks. And it was. It was the biggest headache ever. But there was just something in me that. And maybe it. By the way, maybe all the people telling me that it was hard and I shouldn't do it probably helped me because I have one of those minds, you know, someone tells me not to do something, I'll find every reason why. I'll prove them wrong.
- [11:37]
B
Right?
- [11:37]
A
So I think, in a weird, messed up way, the fact that I got told by so many people, do not do this. It's a headache, probably help me, you.
- [11:45]
B
Know, so my former life, 2005, 2009. I had a beverage. I was in 55,000 stores, 43 distributors, and I drove and flew to every single distributor.
- [11:57]
A
Wow.
- [11:58]
B
And I literally would do what's called ride alongs. So ride along is where Oliver would go with Cali Water, or I would go with my drink. And literally, it's like a Budweiser truck and jump in the semi truck and ride along to 24 locations for the day to help them want to sell our products. And here's why. Budweiser driver wants to sell Budweiser. He doesn't care about my drink or the water or the milk or the soda or anything else on that truck besides Budweiser, because that's who pays him. And he just gets a little bit of bonus sometimes or nothing for selling my drink. And so we spend the time doing what's called ride alongs, where we literally go with them to the stores, make friends with them, give them $50, $100 Best Buy gift cards, get them excited to want to be part of our brand to choose from. Because Budweiser had a lot of other options, just like Coors, Miller, Pepsi, my other distributors on the retail side. Here's the hard part. Let me walk you through the reality of why Oliver has been told by some people, it's hard. Let's say you go to a household name like Albertsons or Ralph's or Vons or Smith's, a big grocery store, and it's January 1st. And they actually say, yes, we'd like to buy Cali water. We'll take $1 million worth. Like, oh, that sounds cool. But now Oliver and his investors and friends have to come up with around $400,000 to make a million dollars worth of drinks. But they want to ship it on April 1st. So four months from now. So he's got a front. The money, let's call $400,000. And he's going to be shipping it four months from now on April 1st. April 1st comes. The trucks deliver, they put it into the stores. Now the stores want them to do marketing and merchandising displays and pay for all that. And they're gonna pay Oliver for Cali water on net, 60 terms, meaning 60 days from the date of delivery that Oliver shipped. So it's April 1st. He's gonna get paid on June 1st. But I don't know if you guys have tried Cali Water. It's delightful. And so it sells well. So let's say it sells through at like a 22% or 18% sell through rate. The chain store's like, whoa, we love Kelly water. We want more Oliver. We'll take $4 million for the next order. Sounds cool to Oliver, doesn't it? But wait, he needs to come up with around 1.6 million or 2 million to make those drinks. And he hasn't been paid for the first million dollars that's not due till June 1 and May. And now he's got a float. Do you see where I'm going here? And so when your drink does well, you need to have millions of dollars to catch up to manufacture for the distribution. And wait. And again, on that 4 million dollar order that he spends around 1.62 million, he's going to have net 60 terms again coming up a few months from now, and the same thing happens. But what if Albertsons and Costco and circle K and 711 all want his drinks at the same damn time where we're at?
- [14:37]
A
The crazy thing is, I'm just going to share this. Before the podcast, I said to Dan, I've never really looked into Dan. We just connected on socials and I just loved everything he was doing. But I haven't looked into Dan to know his story. And this is nuts. I had no idea.
- [14:51]
B
So I did that for 1999 to 2009. I had the same brand, but I had an energy drink from 2005, 2009, we were number seven out of the 900 drinks on the market. And it's difficult, it's a grind.
- [15:04]
A
And in the early days as well, I will say, there's so much that doesn't make sense. I remember trying to get a distribution company to bring us on and they'd say, we love the drink, but you need to get 60 stores yourself or 50 stores yourself. And I like, okay, we can do that. And then every store we would go in, literally me and Vanessa would show up in. They'd be like, oh, my God, we'd love to. Yeah, we'd love to take your drink on. Who's your distributor?
- [15:25]
B
Exactly.
- [15:25]
A
And we'd be like, we haven't got one. We'll come back when you've got one. We're like, well, we can't get one until we've got the stores. And it literally was the most mind blowing thing. I was like, what? You can't win this. Like, you can't. Everything is set up to make a beverage fail, right? Every. Every way of working, every way they do a contract, every way, as you say the terms, everything. And that all then started to come back to my mind of, you were Right. Like all these people that said, don't do a beverage. Why didn't I do a toilet paper company? Everyone's got to wipe their ass every day. I should have done that.
- [15:58]
B
That's why dude Wipes is the second biggest brand in Shark Tank history.
- [16:01]
A
Oh, I didn't even know that.
- [16:02]
B
They only have one investor, Mark Cuban, and they never need to ra money again.
- [16:05]
A
There you go. Because everyone, let's go up against the man Wipes. But, yeah, it's, it's tough. But I'm glad, you know, we've started to get nice momentum now. And we've, we've, we're, you know, we're growing and growing, and I think that's a lot to do with the fact that, you know, we really focus on the product.
- [16:19]
B
Yeah, it's good.
- [16:21]
A
Thank you. Appreciate it.
- [16:21]
B
It's important.
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A
And now we have kids pouches as well.
- [16:24]
B
Nice.
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A
Which is amazing. So.
- [16:26]
B
So over the last three years, I raised $56 million for food and beverage brands and consumer products. Almost all was actually beverage brands. And the reason for it is I would find brands that already had 29,000 stores, 16,000 stores, 4,500 stores, 31,000 stores. Those are the actual numbers. And so they had something. I can pour gas in the fire. If someone was starting from scratch, I'm not it. You know, God bless you. I'm wishing you luck. But let me know when you're. You've got a couple thousand stores under your belt. You've dealt with distributors, the manufacturers, the headaches. There's still more headaches to come, but at least I want to see you fight. Yeah, I want to see you fight through the struggle first. The reason I like the food and beverage space is because when you get it right is a big victory. There's been recent sales, you guys have seen, of beverage brands that have had humongous, like, whoa, like numbers, because they're getting sometimes 6 to 10 x EBITDA or getting 2 x gross sales. Let me give you guys a quick example. For a large company like a Kellogg's or, you know, the huge brands that have massive distribution in the cereal space, the beverage space, etc. It takes them on average 125 to $175 million to really launch a brand. 75 million to get it going, 125 to 175 to make it big where it matters to them on the bottom line. So they'd rather buy Cali water for 150 million or 300 million range to save them two years and $200 million. They'd rather give you $300 million or whatever the number is to buy it to save themselves time. And they're not gambling on if people, the consumers, like their new drink that they spend time on any money and time that they spend 125 million, for example, to make a new drink for two years, they're taking away from their core brand, like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Gatorade, etc. They would much rather buy your brand Cali Water for a couple hundred million dollars to save themselves time. And they know that people already like it. And they've got the distribution.
- [18:14]
A
The risk is removed.
- [18:15]
B
Right. And the day they buy you, it's actually free. Here's why they give you, hey, Oliver, here's $300 million for you and Vanessa. Everything's great. Your investors are happy that day. Their stock goes up by $2 a share, and it actually goes up by like a billion. You're free. And they call up all their distributors and be like, hey, guess what, guys? You're gonna start drink taking this drink. They take you from 90 million in sales to $500 million in sales like this.
- [18:39]
A
Yeah. Just by pushing a button.
- [18:42]
B
Like, literally nothing.
- [18:43]
A
Yeah.
- [18:43]
B
All right, so let's go into. We talked a bit about the making money side and the beverage side.
- [18:47]
A
So basically, I should have come and done this podcast about two years, three years ago, and then I would have been fine.
- [18:52]
B
We talked a bit about the making money side and some of the business side. Talking about investing. You invested in Next Health. You've invested in multiple brands. Why do you enjoy investing into brands? And what makes you say yes?
- [19:03]
A
I mean, I've enjoyed it, and I've not enjoyed it. I think the enjoyable part is I generally like to pay it forward. Like, I would not. I would have a business if people didn't believe in me. And I like hearing a founder and believing in their vision. I think it has to be what I've learned. Right. Because I've had investments go wrong, is the founder has to know how hard it's going to be.
- [19:23]
B
Yes.
- [19:24]
A
You know, I've invested in what I think is some of the most incredible stuff, and it just fell apart because the founder just wasn't in it, you know, And I've invested in things that had the potential, but the founder wouldn't step away, you know, And I learned a lot through that, which is why when I did Cali Water, as soon as I had the momentum, I was like, I'm getting a president, and I work for my president. You know, he tells me what I need to do for him because he knows beverage, I don't know beverage. And I think that's what I've learned is like the, the ego of a founder can really crush. It doesn't matter how good the product is, how innovative it is, how creative it is, how brilliant it is. Without the right founder evil to run the company or to step away from the company when it's time, it will crush it. And that's why, you know, I've had some that have done well and some that, you know, haven't gone under touch wood. But I've kind of wrote off my investment, you know, like, I'm like, I probably never see this money again. I'm close to saying which ones they are, but maybe I shouldn't. But it's been, it's been interesting. It's been interesting. But I'm grateful for the lessons because that every, you know, investment I made and learned led me up to then when I founded a company, what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do, you know, so, you know, there's always, there's always value in the lessons, whether they're good or bad.
- [20:45]
B
So you're out in an event.
- [20:47]
A
And I like to enjoy what I invest in. That's the other key, because then you're in, like, I love going to next health. I enjoy it, you know, worst case, if for some reason, I mean, that company's doing incredibly well. But if worst case, something happened, I enjoyed it. I've had a good run, you know. So enjoy what you're investing in as well.
- [21:04]
B
So I tell people, I only invest in companies that I can help.
- [21:07]
A
Right.
- [21:08]
B
So if you do heart surgeries, God bless you, I can't help you do heart surgeries. You make sweaters with hearts on them. I'm your guy, right? I can help you sell a million of those. And so I try to be very, very specific to it. Even if something is appealing to me, if I don't know the industry and I can't help them, I don't want to be what's called dumb money. I don't want to just put in 25k, 100k, 500k, put a check in and not be able to help. Yeah, I want to be able to help.
- [21:30]
A
Yeah.
- [21:31]
B
And that's why I like food and beverage space and I like this category because I can help them get more famous, I can help them with connections, et cetera. But yeah, it's important. What he was mentioning is that if you find something that you like or you find someone that you trust. You need the founder to be what I call ride or die. I need a founder that they're at the convention, and at 11:20pm the plumbing goes out and the water breaks, and it's all over the booth, and it's. You know, the booth is flooded. He's gonna show up, or she's gonna show up at midnight to go fix it.
- [21:58]
A
Yeah.
- [21:58]
B
And she's gonna be there. He's gonna be there cleaning it. If she had to. Not just be like, oh, I'll deal with in the morning. Yeah, you can't have that. You need someone to ride or die. Because no matter how good a business is or how good a brand is, stuff's gonna happen. Headaches are gonna happen, problems are gonna happen, lawsuits are gonna happen, employees are gonna leave. There's always gonna be frustration situations throughout the course of business. And you need an entrepreneur that's right. Or die. Yeah.
- [22:19]
A
Yeah.
- [22:19]
B
It's really ready to do. To go to war.
- [22:21]
A
100%. And to your point, that's exactly what I've been learning is like. It's like, there's stress in the beginning. It's stressful to launch. Then it's stressful when you launch, Then as you get bigger, it's more stressful. And then as you continue to, like, scale. Scale, it's more stressful, you know, And I think we're in a. We're in a time where it's really hard to. To find your people as well. Finding those ride or die people that believe in your vision as much as you do. I think that's changed now because everyone just wants to do it themselves. You know, it's a. It's a quick, quick fix world of being like, well, I just want to do my own company. It's like, well, that's not how it works. You know, you're like. You learn a lot with another company, and then you go and do your own thing. I think it's hard to find people that really want to put in the hours and the time and the blood, sweat, and tears when it's not their company.
- [23:03]
B
So let's say you're at an event and you meet an entrepreneur. She's amazing. She's got a company. She's doing a couple million bucks in sales. Like, Oliver, I would love for you to invest in my company. What are the things you want to see from that founder? For you to actually say, you know what? I'm gonna put 100k into this business.
- [23:19]
A
I Want to try the product, whatever that is. Obviously, I want to know how they got to where they are. Like, their own journey, I think, you know, just to. Just to gauge, like, how much work it's taken them. And I don't mean this in a nasty way, but, you know, if some. If they were like, oh, yeah, my dad. My dad gave me half a million dollars and I started a protein bar company, and this is where I'm at. You're like, if they've put the work in. And by the way, that could be the case, that. That could have given half a million, and they put blood, sweat and tears, turned it into 2 million. Great. I'm all ears. So I want to hear their story. I want to hear the founder's story away from the product. I want to hear the founder's story of what they've done with the product and where it's at now. And then I want to try the product and then hear. Hear their vision for it ahead and hear those, like, kind of flags of, like, you know, if they're. If they're holding onto this company for dear life forever, you know, if they're holding onto their equity for dear life forever, all those things that, you know, can really bite you in the ass. So.
- [24:15]
B
So at the same event, you meet this really nice gentleman who's just raised the round of funding. He's got 5 million bucks for his first feature film. He wants you, Oliver, to be in his first feature film. What are the things you want to see from him? To be able to say yes or no? I would actually put my name, likeness, and time to be in your movie.
- [24:34]
A
I mean, the first thing I'll probably say is, why are you picking me? Because there's more bankable actors right now. Yeah, I mean, I'd. Once again, I'd be like. I'd try and dissect it and be like, what are we making? Why are we making it? What's the end goal? You know, it really is. It's. You know, it's. It's. It's. Sadly, it's referred to as the movie business, but I think people just refer to it in their mind as movies. People forget the business part. So I think the same way I would. You know, I wouldn't ask the questions of how they found it and all that, but I would ask the guy, why do you want to put this money in? What kind of movie do you want to make? And I think that's the other thing with movies. Like, sadly, it is what it is. Right? Like, Thriller, action, horror, you know, they're movies that tend to return your money because you can make them for less. If someone came to me and was like, I've got this amazing story, you know, I love making amazing stories. I'd love to be an actor in an Oscar winning drama, there's a lot of risk there. You know, when people make an $80 million movie that's talking about climate change, it's needed to be made. Is the return on that gonna come back? It's tough, you know, So I think looking at it from a business, it would be, be a lot of that would be like, what story, what story do you want to tell? Where's the script, how good the script, who's telling, who's directing it, who's doing. It's exactly the same package. It's. There really are so many similarities. When you think about when you start a brand and you've got the president and the team of people around it, and then it's the same thing, you know, if you've got a good team and you've got a good package and you've got a path to profitability, invest. Whether it's a movie, whether it's, you know, man wipes whatever it is, you know, I think, I think it just, it has to make sense. And obviously nothing's ever going to make. There's risk with everything, you know, and that's just the nature of the beast. And that's because the world we live in, who knows what's around the corner, know they're another Covid. Then shipping costs go through the roof and then your margin slashed. No one knows there's risk. But that's the exciting thing about investments is there is risk. Of course there's risk. If there wasn't risk, there wouldn't be any investments. Everyone would just put their own money in, you know, so it's exciting. But yeah, I would, I would ask him a lot of the same questions as I'm asking someone who's making a.
- [26:49]
B
Product on the movie side, would you ever do a passion project like Jeremy Piven is doing the performance, and the performance is. He's on tour right now with it because it's, it is in the.
- [27:00]
A
Yeah.
- [27:00]
B
In line to hopefully get an Oscar, at least a nomination for the Oscar. So he's very excited, but it's taken him years and years. We talk about it all the time and I'm, I love his passion behind it and I've now gone to multiple of his premieres for it. But it's because it's about the Holocaust and about, you know, a tap dancer in the Holocaust and he cares about the story.
- [27:18]
A
Yeah.
- [27:19]
B
Have you ever thought about, or would you consider taking on passion projects between 100%?
- [27:24]
A
Yeah, I've got. I mean, there's a couple of things I'm working on right now. I guess I'm just more. I like to be transparent. Right. So if I'm sitting with an investor or someone that's going to put money into my movie and it's a passion project, I'm saying exactly that. I'm saying, mate, this is a passion project. Read the story. If it resonates with you as well, I believe we can make something amazing here. But obviously it's not a story that suddenly brings in sales because it's not, you know, a Blumhouse horror film. Sure. I think just transparency. If you, if you're transparent and you, you communicate, no one can ever, you know, bite back at you for that, you know, and I think that's the. You'll find your people, you're finding people that are like, you know, I'm just trying to think of something like very passionate. Just say it was like a story of a footballer. Right. And it was, you know, half the world still doesn't know. I mean, the world knows football, but, you know, over in the U.S. as in soccer, it's still trying to get there. So as. As much as it's a big sport, people try soccer movies a lot and sometimes they just don't work. But if I found this story of a soccer player and I wanted to make this story, I, deep down, I know there's a risk there because it's still not, you know, the soccer movies have never taken out. But if it was my passion and I sat with someone, said, look, mate, I know you love football. You know, you've got a few hundred million, right. Are you prepared to lose a few million? Maybe. I say, yeah, maybe we take a shot. 100% believe you've got to do you've. With most things in life, or life in general, you have to have a balance of the stuff that pays your rent and the stuff that makes you happy, you know, because otherwise what happens is. And I've been there, I don't know why, that just made me a bit get a bit emotional because I've literally been there where you're too busy thinking about the money stuff and you. And even if you're lucky enough to get the money stuff, you're fucking miserable, you know, because you're lacking that Soul that the passion, the things that we, you know, as kids dream about. The things that really wake us up in the morning. I don't mean wake up us in the. Wake us up in the morning with an alarm. I mean the stuff that jumps us out of bed. Yeah. Without any fee attached.
- [29:28]
B
No coffee, let's go.
- [29:30]
A
Yeah, exactly. And I think that's the stuff that for me I've been, I've been, I've been on both paths. I've been on the path where I've, I've chased money and I've. And got. Got what I dreamed of and realized it did fucking nothing for me. And I was miserable and I was sad. So I am always conscious of juggling in life enough that I can still live the life that I want and have the success. But I'm not going too far down that path where I forget what actually makes me feel good and what actually makes me feel alive. And I think to, you know, reason we're here today when I walked into the toy drive, I was blown away because that, you know, the give back stuff and the paying it forward stuff people bring up to me all the time be like, why do you do so much of that? And I'm like, because I am a self obsessed prick if I am not treating that. And by treating that I mean it's the most simplest thing. It's not. Not therapy. Therapy is good. It's not. I'm not saying it's not, but it's not therapy. It's not anything like that. It's just doing something for someone else without wanting anything in return. That is it, that, that cures my overthinking. It stops the self obsessed mind. It stops the fear of am I good enough? Is my business good enough? Am I gonna fight? It cures all that because you're suddenly doing something else for someone else that has a lot less for you. And they're probably smiling and happy, you know. So that for me is the balance in life that I'm always constantly trying to get. And don't get me wrong, I'll have a few weeks where I completely veer off track and I'll have a moment, I'll be like, what am I doing? What am, what am I spinning about? You know, it's mind blowing and it is, you know, that's the other thing. We're always a work in progress. Just when you think you've got it figured out, something happens in life, slaps you around the head. And I'm like, where did all that you Know all those life courses and therapy and everything, and all those books I read, and now I'm suddenly a 13 year old again, spinning it about the most stupid shit, you know, so understanding that it's always still a work in progress.
- [31:24]
B
Speaking of the toy drive, we have to go back out there. But one final thought. So we're going into 2025. There's, I feel like a tailwind of energy in our society. There's stock market's up, cryptocurrency's up, people are outside and wanting to go back in life and events are full. Like people want to be around each other. What would you say to someone going in 2025 of how they can decide what they, what their passion is like? How can I call it tasting it? Go try a movies, go try out film. Go try music. Go try making clothing. Go try music. Like whatever the things that you might think about. What did you say to people? Like they're trying to figure out what their next thing is. How do they find their passion?
- [32:02]
A
Oh, I would say pick something that you're ready to give your everything to and is gonna make you happy, even if it takes you a long time to make money from it. Yeah, that would, that's what, that's what I'd say.
- [32:20]
B
Where can people find you on social media?
- [32:22]
A
Just my name at Oliver Trevina. That's it.
- [32:25]
B
Any projects coming out? 2025, any movies?
- [32:28]
A
I just finished one in Budapest, a comedy that I produced that we're really excited about. Paris Jackson, Rory Culkin, Crispin Glover, amazing cast. Mark Boone Jr. Will Peltz, I'm excited about that. And then next year have two more movies start in January and February. That I won't say because we haven't announced them yet and I don't know the time of this thing, but it's exciting. I'm honestly, I'm very feel very excited and lucky and grateful to be going into ending this year and going into next year.
- [33:00]
B
I appreciate you being here. I know you're busy traveling around the planet with Cali water, you're filming for movies, TV shows and all these things that you're working on. And luckily the doggies here with us, Doug's fast asleep.
- [33:09]
A
Fast asleep.
- [33:10]
B
All right, guys, as you know, with the money Mondays, it's very important to spread these messages with your friends, family and followers. It's important to talk about money. It's important to have these discussions. So if you can share, like, comment, subscribe, check out Oliver Trevina across social media and we'll See you guys next Monday on TheMoney Mondays.com.